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Mrs. John FREUiQRicii Ukvpilin 



IKflRGflRET B. jiftRVEY, fl. lU. 



^ ^ ^ ^ 



fl Sketch of H^P Liife 
and H^t( Work 



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DOHA HflRVEV DEVEWT4 



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WEST PARK 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

1913 



Ezog 






Otf% 

Author 

(r«r*M) 

SEP :9 1913 




Margarkt B. Harvev, a. M. 
Organizer and Historian of Merion Chapter, D. A. R. 



"Ye first Herveys came into England with William ye Conqueror. 
Piarvey d'Yon or de Montmars maried to ye Daughter of WiUiam Girth 
of Normandie, temp Henry II — had for his arms one single trefoil in 
a field argent. And that afterwards John Ilervey maried Dionysia, 
daughter of JefTrey le Grey of Bedfordshire had 3 trefoils in a field 
Argent. John Harvey of Thirley maried Joan, daughter of John Ham- 
mond of Thirly, put ye 3 trefoils into his grandmother Mary Folliotts 
Bend argent in a field Gules." See "Visitation of Bedfordshire," p. 183. 

Harvey de Yon, having married the daughter of one William 
Goieth (who died in his journie to the holie land), delivered certain cas- 
tels into the hands of King Henrie, because he was in despaire to keepe 
them against Theobald, erle of Chartres, whereupon war was renewed 
between the King of England and the erle of Chartres. Henrie made 
little accompt of this war. 

HOLLINSHED. 



HARVEY. 



William the Conqueror invaded England 1066. With him went the 
llower of Xornian Chivalry. One of tlie best accounts we have of this 
great event is found in the Bayeux Tapestry, the work of Queen Ma- 
tilda, wife of William. 

Hervey de Bourges (Herveus bituricensis ). He was the direct 
aTicestor of the main stock of the Harvey families in England. He 
accompanied William the Conqueror into England in 1066. He held a 
great Barony in Sufifolk, in 1086. which passed from the family in the 
time of King Stephen (1135-1154). (His name apjjcars in the "Dooms- 
day" or "Domesday Book.") 

Nicholas Har\ey (b. 1513 — d. 15S6) of the Manor of Brockley, 
who married Joan, daughter of Richard Guy (Ivy), had two sons, Henry 
and Humphrey; and fue daughters, Bryget. Mary, Anne, Aielce, 
and Cicely. 

Ikirke is authority for the statement that during the period of Civil 
Wars in Ireland from the time of Queen Elizabeth down, many younger 
sons of leading Someretshire families went to Ireland in the hope of 
adxancing their fortunes. 

Henry Elarvey of Brockley (d. 1616) was one of these. He was 
the ancestor of the Harvey families of the County Carlov.', Cork, Lim- 
erick and Waterford, Ireland, with braiiches in New York, Philadelphia, 
and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. 

Henry Harvey of Rathsillah, County Kildare, married Maudlin 

• . Both died in 1683, and their estate was administered by their 

son, Henry Harvey. 

Henry Harvey, son of Henry Harvey, married Anne Duckett, 
daughter of Thomas and Anne Duckett, of Duckett's Grove, County 
Carlow, 1681. This marriage is recorded at the Friends" Meeting House, 
Dublin, Ireland. 

Henry Harvey, son of Henry Harvey, was of Ballinacasane, Ballin- 
acusan, or Ballintrecasan, County Kildare. 

Henry Harvey and Anne Duckett. his wife (married 1681), had a 
innuber of children, all born at P>allinacusan. They were Thomas (b. 
1682) ; Henry (b. 1686) ; Joseph (b. 1689) ; Anne (b. 1691) ; John (b. 
1694); JVilliam (b. 1695); Francis (b. 1698). (From Records at 
Friends' Meeting House, Dublin.) 

William Harvey married Sarah . /\fter the death of William 



she married for her second husband, John Brewster, of TuUow, County 
Carlow (1751). (From records at Friends' Meeting House, Dublin, 
Ireland. ) 

IVilliain Harvey (b. 1726), son of William and Sarah Harvey, mar- 
ried ]\Iargaret Stephens (1775), daughter of Edward Stephens. They 
had four children — William, Edivavd, Thomas, and Mary Anne. (Re- 
corded at the Carlow Monthly Meeting.) 

Edward Harvey, son of William and Margaret Stephens Flarvey, 
was born in County Carlow, Ireland, 1783. Educated at Friends' School, 
Clonmel, and at Trinity College, Dublin. (Died in Lower Merion, Penn- 
sylvania, 1858) He married Margaret Boyle, daughter of Captain lames 
Boyle, of Chester County, Pa., and Martha Williams, his wife. They 
were married at ^lerion Meeting, Pa., 6 mo. 16, 1808. 

James Eoyle Harvey, son of Edward and Margaret Boyle Harvey 
(born at Lower Merion, Pa., September 21, 1816. Died in Philadelphia 
January 15, 1893), married M. Julia Payne (l)orn September, 1837), 
daughter of Charles M. Payne, of Roxborough, Philadelphia County, 
Pa. 

Margaret Boyle Harvey was the daughter of James Boyle and Julia 
Payne Harvey, of Lower Merion, Montgomery County. Pa. 



CREST — A Leopard holding in dexter pavv^ a trefoil. 
ARMS — Xliree Leopards lieads on a chevron, three trefoils. 
MOTTO — Recto facienao neminein timeas. 



argaret j3. Harvey. 



Margaret B. Harvey was born in Lower Merion Township, Mont- 
gomery County, Pennsylvania, just outside the city Hmits of Philadel- 
phia, in Pennsylvania's famous "Welsh Tract." She was one of a large 
fam.ily, five brothers and five sisters. These were the children of James 
B. Harvey, a Friend, who was a member of the Montgomery County 
Historical Society, and a recognized authority on local history. 

Miss Harvey's earliest recollections were of the Harvey homestead, 
a fine old Colonial stone house on the old Lancaster Road, v/hich had 
been in the family for over a century, but which n_ow has fallen before 
the so-called march of improvement. Besides being descended from 
the Harveys wdiose name is recorded clear back to the Norman con- 
quest, as given in the preceding pages, this family is descended from the 
families of Rees, Williams, Parry, Evans. Jones, and Cadwallader, all 
of whom were among the "Cambrian Sires" who came over from Wales 
in 1682 i!i the ship "Lyon," which landed at Pencoyd, Aug. 14th, two 
months before William Penn landed. 

During the Revolutionary period "Lilac Grove," the Plarvey home- 
stead, was occupied by a Revolutionary patriot, Richard Jones, a promi- 
nent Friend or Quaker, and a member of Merion Meeting. (He is 
buried there.) Fie was a wealthy lumber merchant, and one of the v/ays 
in which he served his country was by presenting the Naval Board with 
lumber to build a boat for the armed fleet on the Dtl'dware. As he left 
but one son, James, who died unmarried, the property came into the 
possession of his cousin, Margaret Boyle Harvey, descended from the 
same Jones family as James and Richard. 

Margaret Boyle, daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, Captain James 
Boyle, of the Chester County militia, was married to Edward Harvey, 
at Merion Meeting, sixth month, sixteenth, 1808. (They are both buried 
there.) James Boyle was a native of Ireland. (He was a nephew of 
Sir Robert Boyle, Earl of Orrey.) He came to America when quite a 
young man, his parents having died when he was a child. 

Margaret Boyle Harvey's mother was Martha Williams of Charles- 
town, Chester County, a heroine of the Revolution. She, with other 
young girls of that day, put in the crops and cared for the live stock, 
while the men of their families were away fighting for their country. 
She also carried food and clothing to the patriot soldiers at Valley Forge. 
Her grandfather, John Williams, and her father, David Williams, were 



in Washington's army at Valley Forge. Her brothers, Afordecai, James 
and Daniel, also served in the F'ennsylvania militia. (Martha Williams 
married her teacher, known as "Schoolmaster Boyle." He taught in 
Charlestown before the Revolution, and at the Old Eagle School, Tredyf- 
frin Township, 1812-14. He also taught at CHasslcy, near where the 
Devon Inn now stands.) 

On page 40, in the "History of the Old F.agle Scliool, Tredyffrin 
Township, Chester County, Pa.," published by the trustees of that prop- 
erty, we read under the list of "Masters" fas they were originally called) 
the following: 

"James Boyle, an Irishman of famed learning, known as 'School- 
master Ehrens.' " 

Margaret F5. Harvey, the subject of this sketch, was the grand- 
daughter of Edward and Margaret Tjoyle Harvey, and great-grand- 
daughter of Captain James Boyle and Martha Williams, his wife. 

Miss Harvey was educated at the Girls' Normal School and the 
Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, and the University of California. 
The degree of A.M. was conferred upon her June, 1900, by Dickinson 
College. Miss Harvey was an artist of recognized ability. She was a 
student in the Art School of the eminent portrait ])ainter. James R. 
Lambdin. .She was ;dso a linguist, being mistress of ii\e different lan- 
guages. 

Edward Harvey, who was a classic scholar (having been educated 
at the noted Friends' School, Clonmel, and at Trinity College. Dublin, 
Ireland) and an horticulturist of note, left a valuable lilirary to his 
family.* Miss Harvey, Ijeing a bright precocious child, began, when little 
more than an infant, to live in an atmosphere of books — of romance, anil 
of the history of by-gone days. When a1:)out six years old she wrote 
her first "book," a story, whose heroine was called "Lena Wilson." She 
printed the entire booklet with pen and ink. illustrating it with pictures 
of her own making. When she had finished it she showed it to her 
father. ( )n the title page little Margaret had printed "15y the Author of 
," naming several other works. 

Pier father smilingly asked, "Where are all these other stories?" 
She promptly replied, "Oh! I haven't written them yet, but I shall!" 

"If thee hasn't written them yet, why did thee say thee had?'' he 
asked. 



* Edward Harvey had a rare collection of historical papers and hooks, among 
them being an original letter of Patrick Henry's — and a Bible printed at Oxford 
in 1642. This iJible was carried in t<ie Rattle of the Boyne, l(i90. .^mong other 
names inscribed upon its fly-leaves appears that of "Fray Harvey" in several 
forms. In two the Norman spelling is retained — "Herve" — in antique lettering. 
The list of the "Dragoons" and also of "Horse" appears on the fly-leaves of this 
ancient Bible. i 

8 



She stood by his knee with her large l)lack eyes fixed on him in sur- 
prise. Then she burst out : 

"IJ'hy all authors do that! I never sate a book without that in 
front!" (showing how observant she was antl how carefully she had 
thought the matter over.) 

One of her aunts playfully said, when the book was brought to her 
for inspection: "Why, Maggie, you didn't write this; you got it out of 
the Family Story Paper!" 

"Oh! Aunt Emily; / did not! I got it out of here," she cried (rais- 
ing her arm high over her head and touching the crown of it with her 
index finger.) 

When in her teens her verses, which were both graceful and 
musical, appeared regularly in Arthur's IhiiME M.xf.AziNE and Godey's 
Lady Book. 

While still a school girl Aliss Harvey began her literary career in 
earnest. This she continued until the time of her death. She had been 
a contributor to the leading magazines, and a special correspondent of 
many of the principal newspapers, particularly the Philadelphia Times, 
Press, Inquirer and Record; the Chicago Times and Tribune; the Omaha 
Bee; the Cheyenne Sun; the Ogden Herald, and the San Francisco Chron- 
icle. For several years she was regularly attached to the staff of this 
last-named paper, during which time she attended the University of 
California. 

Miss Harvey was a prolific writer of verse as well as of prose. She 
was the author of the original national flower poem, "Valley Forge 
Arbutus." This was brought to public attention in connection with the 
freeing of Washington's headquarters from del)t, June 19, 1887. (This 
poem has been copied and quoted in every State in the Union.) 

In 1895 Miss Harvey prepared a little booklet giving a full and 
detailed account of the "National Flower Agitation." I insert it here 
in its entirety: 



.J X '^•i. 



OR 



(CoiiyrigKt, Marc};, 1887) 

Tke Original "'National Flower Poem 
BY 

MARGARET B. HARVEY 

Autkor of "Lov^er Merion Lilies" and OtKer Poems, Etc. 



Valley Forge Arbutus. 



Grand hills ! rear your heavenwarrl claim, 

Like patriots' noble desire ! 
Like altars colossal, aflame, 

With blue, waving pines for your fire! 
Like Liberty's torches, they li\e 

While earth seems one winter-bound tomb, 
And shelter, the soonest to give 

Defiance to Death, sparks of bloom.! 

The chief trod these hills — did he think 

The sky not above but below 
When first he saw planets of pin^v 

With scarce-cleared-away clouds of snow? 
Or start, dark forebodings forgot? — 

The drooping, or uplifted eye 
Can each meet a heaven, for not 

Up, down, but to God, is the sky ! 

Toy-trumpets whose mimicry shamed 

The almond's and vale-lily"s hue, 
With star-mouths whose breath not the famed 

Sweet Arabic scents ever knew ; 
Trailed leaves like the hero's own bays, 

Undying and green evermore, 
A message amid his dark days 

You brought, as to Pilgrims before: 

"If buds 'mid dead leaves can survive, 

If green can be fresh 'mid the snow, 
Then Freedom is ever alive, 

And still it must blossom and grow." 
What else could your perfume-notes say? — 

God wills that a flower brave the blast; 
Can He, then, from man turn away. 

Mock hopes the sublimest at last? 

13 



The chief from the liills, which his fame 

Uphold to the stars and the sun, 
Descended and down the vale came 

To where dwelt of women the one; 
Why seemed he no longer deprest — 

Why scarcely for joy could he speak? — 
He pinned in the mull o'er her hreast 

A spray like the tints in her cheek ! 

How simple the act ! But it meant 

A gift from Omnipotent hands ! — 
W'ho doubts the prophetic event, 

Or, reading it, misunderstands? — 
The hero saw Liberty's bloom 

Adorning her altars above, 
And brought it to earth's valley-gloom 

To place on the shrine of his love! 

The altars of old were cnwreathed 
With vervain, most sacred of flowers; 

What altars such incense e'er breathed? 
And have wc no garlands for ours? — 

These hills speak their choice — we must take- 
To give they have best right and power — 

The Trailing Arbutus must make 
America's National Flower ! 



14 




"Lilac Grove." 
The Harvey Homestead. Built 1700. 



Tlie National Flo^v^er. 



True History of the Agitation. 



The National Flower agitation, now in progress, began in Ardmore, 
Pa., in December, 1886. 

Ardmore is a beautiful suburban village, near the city of Philadel- 
phia, and situate in Lower Merion township, Montgomery County, in 
one of the most beautiful romantic portions of the "Old Welsh Tract," 
about a mile from the City Line. 

The writer was then engaged in preparing for the press a volume 
of poems, entitled "Lower Merion Lilies." The name "Merion" v.as 
given from the township in which her early years had been spent, and 
in which she was at that date residing (December, 1886). 

Remembering her visit, the preceding summer, to that historic local- 
ity in upper Merion. "Valley Forge," the author wrote the now popular 
poem, entitled "Valley Forge Arbutus." This poem contains the phrase, 
"America's National Flower." 

The volume of poems appeared in Philadelphia, March, 1887. As 
the volume was copyrighted, of course every poem in it was also copy- 
righted. 

The little book, "Lower Merion Lilies and Other Poems," was 
warmly received. In three months the edition was exhausted. 

One of the first copies fell into the hands of Mr. John O. K. Robarts, 
editor of the PhocnixvUlc Messenger, published near Valley Forge. 
Mr. Robarts suggested to the author the propriety of having the poem 
read at the Valley Forge celebration, June 19, 1887, on vv^hich occasion, 
thanks to the "Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association" and 
the "Patriotic Order Sons of America," Washington's headquarters would 
be freed from debt. 

Mr. Robarts also wrote an editorial on "A National Flower," giving 
due credit to the poem for the suggestion. The PhoenixvUle (Pa.) 
Messenger thus launched the present "National Flower Movement." 

Mr. Robarts also introduced the author (with her poem and idea 
of a "National Flower" and the "Trailing Arbutus of \^alley Forge" as 
that flov/er) to Col. Theodore W. Bean, of Norristown, Pa., Historian 
of Valley Forge, and to J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq., of the same place. 
These gentlemen were members of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, 
also of the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association, and were 

15 



upon the Valley Forge Celebration Committee. They were sufficiently 
enthusiastic over the matter to bring it to the attention of Mr. Henry 
J. Stager, of Philadelphia, editor of Camp A^ezus, the organ of the P. O. 
S. A., published in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Stager wrote the second editorial on the subject. The poem, 
"Valley Forge Arbutus," was })rintcd on the programme used at the 
Valley Forge Celebration, June 19, 1887. 

In a few weeks the now popular phrase, "National Flower," was 
traveling all over the country. 

The writer gave to Mr. Robarts the following reasons in favor of 
the Trailing Arbutus : 

1. It was the first flower seen l)y the patriot army at \'alley b'orge 
after their winter's martyrdom — a martyrdom upon whose agonies the 
present grandeur of our National life dejjends. 

2. It loves liberty, resisting cultivation. 

3. It is peculiarly American. 

4. Its flowers are shai)ed like live-pointed American stars, and its 
leaves are evergreen, like laurels. 

5. Its habitat is the thirteen Original States. 

6. The finest specimens occur on the Chester Valley Hills, near 
some of the most famous of Revolutionary localities. 

7. It was the first American flower seen by the Pilgrims of New 
England, who called it the "Mayflower," after their vessel. 

8. It is beautiful in itself. 

9. There is but one species. 

To these reasons may now be added the following: 
P)y being recognized by "Patriotic Sons" of Valley Forge and vicin- 
ity, it has taken on new historic associations, and become as fully estab- 
lished as the "National IHower" as it can be liy any authority short of 
Congress. 

It is believed that the "Trailing Arbutus," or "Ground Laurel, or 
"Mayflower," or Epigcca repens was known to the early Virginians. 
Captain John Smith, in describing the first blaster at Jamestown, says 
that the "altar was trimmed with flowers from the woods." What 
flowers?^ Early s])ring flowers, of course. 

:(: * ;lc :!: * * •;■ ;(: * 

It was not until fully a year later that the writer heard of any other 
claimant for the credit of starting the recent "National flower agitation," 
or of any other flower than the Trailing Arbutus mentioned. 

In May, 1888, the Boston Globe began a discussion, ignoring the 
writer completely, although recognizing the Trailing Arbutus. A chromo- 
pul)Iisliing firm took up the matter, issuing a card with a bunch of 
Trailing Arbutus on one side and golden rod on the other. Atten- 
tion was called to the latter for no earthly reason but its bright color! 
This firm canvassed for votes to sell their picture cards. The returns in 

16 



favor of the golden rod were nothing but the result of an advertising 
scheme! 

It is but justice to both this chromo-pubhshing firm and the Boston 
Globe to say that they afterward acknowledged the priority of the writer's 
claim. 

The fancy for golden rod, such as it was, has died down. The 
Trailing Arbutus of Valley Forge still keeps well to the front. 

In the winter of 1892 Mr. Albert D. Hopkins, of Canton, South 
Dakota, started a movement in favor of the pansy, and designed a flag 
in which the stars should be arranged to outline this flower. Hon. Walt. 
H. Butler, of Iowa, introduced into Congress a bill legalizing such a 
flag. Of course, nothing came of such a bill, but the startling flag-design 
helped the writer in calling attention to the fact that our flag is already 
a floral banner. It contains the five-pointed starry blossoms of the 
"\'alley Forge Arbutus," only slightly conventionalized. To adopt the 
Trailing Arbutus as the "National Flower," we need only say that its 
flowers are already in our star-spangled banner, and Icaz'e that banner 
exactly as it is. 

During the World's Fair in Chicago, a movement sprang up in favor 
of the Indian corn. The best word in behalf of corn was written by Miss 
Edna Dean Proctor, in the poem "Columbia's Emblem." 

The corn movement also came to nothing. During the winter of 
1893-1 the writer was enabled to defeat some attempted corn legislation, 
and enlist a number of Senators and Representatives in favor of "Valley 
Forge Arbutus." 

The Pennsylvania Building at the World's Fair, Chicago, contained 
a "National Flower Exhibit" by the writer, placed there through the 
courtesy of Mr. A. B. Farquhar and Mrs. Anna M. Holstein. The ex- 
hibit consisted of a double panel, framed in dead-gold. One panel con- 
tained photographs of the persons instrumental in starting the "National 
flower agitation ;" the other a sheet of clippings containing the original 
"National flower poem," etc., all enwreathed in water-color designs, 
showing sprays of Trailing Arbutus mingled with American flags. 

This exhibit is now in Washington's headquarters, Valley Forge, 
having been accepted by the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial 
Association. 

A smaller exhibit of the same general style was in the California 
State Building. The writer had lived in San Francisco from 1890 to 
1893, and was connected with the San Francisco Chronicle, hence was 
judged worthy a place in the California Literary Exhibit. This was 
under the direction of Mrs. Ella Sterling Cummins, of San Francisco. 
The "National Flower Exhibit" in the California Building, was afterward 
sent to the Mid-Winter Fair. 

While in Chicago Mrs. Cummins felt that something must be done 
to defeat the corn. Accordingly she organized the "National Flower 

17 



Emblem Society," with branches in several States. The writer was 
elected an honorary member. While she fully appreciated Mrs. Cum- 
mins's kindness, she felt that she could not take an active part in the 
work of the society, as this would be virtually re-opening the question. 
To her "Valley Forge Arbutus" endures as long as Valley Forge itself 
does. 

The Massachusetts branch of the Floral Emblem Society was organ- 
ized with Mrs. Ellen A. Richardson as chairman. This branch exerted 
itself in behalf of the Trailing Arbutus. In May, 1895, under the au- 
spices of the Massachusetts branch, a "Mayflower Tea" was held in 
Boston. Thus the writer has lived to see the "Trailing Arbutus" hon- 
ored in the very place where plagiarists and imitators gave her the most 
trouble ! 

On April 17, 1895, the Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, gave a "Revolutionary Tea" in "ye setting roome" of "ye 
Old General Wayne Tavern." The floral decorations were Trailing 
Arbutus mingled with the foliage of American laurel. 

The author recited the poem, "The National Flower, or Valley Forge 
Arbutus." This brought the poem and the Trailing Arbutus to the 
attention of the Daughters of the American Revolution at large. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution in California had pre- 
viously noticed the "Arbutus of Valley Forge." The writer had sent 
a root of Trailing Arbutus from Valley Forge to the Tree-Planting of 
April 19, 1894. This tree, a "Liberty Tree," was a young Sequoia, 
planted in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, by Sequoia Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, on the anniversary of the Battle 
of Lexington. At the roots of the Liberty Tree were placed handfuls 
of historic earth sent from Revolutionary localities in the East. The 
published list of contributions contains with the mention of earth from 
\^alley Forge: 

"Root of Valley Forge Arbutus, the first proposed National Flower." 

Among the many newspapers and magazines which have favorably 
mentioned the Trailing Arbutus as the National Flower, with the poem, 
"Valley Forge Arbutus" and its author, may be mentioned the follow- 
ing: 

Phivnixville (Pa.) Messenger; Philadelphia Camp Ne-ws; Philadel- 
phia Times; Philadelphia Press; Philadelphia Record; Philadelphia In- 
quirer; Philadelphia North American; Philadelphia Item; Philadelphia 
Catholic Times; Taggarfs (Phila.) Times; Philadelphia Churchman; 
Arthurs Home Magazine; Bryn Maivr (Pa.) Home Xeivs; Norristoim 
(Pa.) Herald; Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot; Lancaster (Pa.) Nezv Era; 
IVilmington (Del.) Every Evening; Peninsula (Del.) Home Journal; 
Home Maker Magazine (N. Y.) ; Rural Nezv Yorker; Boston Globe; 
Woman's Journal (Boston); New England Magazine (Boston); Cot- 
tage Hearth (Boston); Modern Priscilla (Lynn); Woman's Tribune 

18 



(Washington, D. C.) ; American Magadnc (Washington, D. C.) ; Florida 
Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.) ; Nezv Orleans (La.) Picayune; San 
Francisco (Cal.) Chronicle; San Francisco Report; San Jose Tree and 
line; Ontario (Cal.) Record, and Dcs Moines (Iowa) Register. 

Senator M. S. Quay and Mon. John E. Reyburn have promised to 
introduce it to Congress, should a favorable opportunity occur (1894). 
"National Flower Bills," of which the following is the substance: 

That on and after "Flag Day," June 14, 18 , Congress recognizes 

as the "National Flower'' the "Trailing Arbutus of Valley Forge," also 
known as "Mayflower," "Ground Laurel," and Epigcra repens. 

That the flag is a floral banner, containing in the stars the blossoms 
of A'alley Forge Arbutus, only slightly conventionalized. 

That when a conventional wreath of laurel appears in a patriotic 
picture, or is mentioned in a patriotic poem or address, Congress under- 
stands this to mean the foliage of American laurels, of which the Trail- 
ing Arbutus is one. 

That Congress recommends the several States within whose bounds 
the various American laurels — as Rhododendrons, or "mountain laurel ;" 
Kalmia, or "laurel," or Epigcea, or "ground laurel" — are found, to take 
steps to prevent their wholesale extermination. 

********* 
Among the prominent persons who have written the author kind 
letters expressing their appreciation of her work and their interest in 
the beautiful Trailing Arbutus, may be mentioned the following: 

lion. John Wanamaker, late Postmaster General, United States ; 
Clarence C. Buel, editor of the Century Magadne ; Mrs. Potter Palmer, 
President Board of Lady Managers, World's Columbian Exposition ; 
Mrs. Anna M. Holstein, Regent of Valley Forge Centennial and Memo- 
rial Association, and County Regent for Montgomery County (Pa.), 
Daughters of the American Revolution; Mrs. N. B. Hogg, State Regent 
for Pennsylvania, Daughters of the American Revolution; Mrs. Edward 
lungerich Smith, Regent Philadelphia Chapter, Daughters of the Amer- 
ican Revolution; Mrs. S. Isabelle Hubbard, State Regent for California, 
Daughters of the American Revolution ; Senator Stewart, of Nevada ; 
Hon. Eugene F. Loud, of California ; Hon. John B. Robinson, of Penn- 
sylvania ; Hon. Charles O'Neill (deceased) of Penn.sylvania ; Judge F. 
W. Van Reynegom, of San Francisco; Major M. P. Llandy, Chief of 
the Department of Publicity, World's Columbian Exposition ; Senator 
J. N. Dolph, of Oregon; Gov. R. E. Pattison, of Penn.sylvania ; Mrs. 
Ella Sterling Cummins, Lady Commissioner of San Francisco Exhibit, 
World's Columbian Exposition; Senator John R. McPherson, of New 
Jersey; Hon. W. H. Doolittle, of Washington State; Mrs. Grover Cleve- 
land, Executive Mansion ; A. B. Farquhar, Executive Commissioner for 
Pennsylvania, World's Columbian Exposition; Senator R. Q. Mills, 
of Texas; Senator James McMillan, of Michigan; Senator Geo. L. 

X9 



Shoup. of Idaho; Senator James A. Kyle, of South Dakota; Senator 
John L. M. Irby, of South Carolina; Hon. H. W. Blair, of New Hamp- 
shire ; Senator William P. Frye, of Maine ; Dr. Edward Brooks, Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction, Philadelphia, and State Senator George 
Morgan, of Pennsylvania. 

The above list is given as nearly as possible in the order of time. 

Ik******** 

Out of the agitation for a "National flower" grew separate agita- 
tions for "State flowers." California recognized the "Golden Poppy," 
or Eschschaltma, as the result of a movement by the State Floral So- 
ciety. Utah has adopted the "Mariposa Lily," or Calochortus; Colorado, 
the "Columbine;" Kansas, the "Sunflower;" Delaware, the "Peach Blos- 
som," etc. 

Fast year the Legislature of Pennsylvania made an appropriation 
for the purchase of 200 acres of the old camp ground at Valley Forge, 
for a State Park. It is expected that the appropriation will be increased 
this year and an additional tract purchased. Also that the principal spots 
of interest will be marked by appropriate memorials. 

The recent purchase includes Washington's Spring, where Wash- 
ington was seen in prayer by Mr. Potts. Here grew the spray of Trailing 
Arbutus which suggested to the author the sentiment for the "National 
Flower Poem." 

This is the "History of the National Flower Agitation" up-to-date. 

Margaret B. Harvey, 
Author of the "National Flower, or Valley Forge Arbutus." 

September 4, 1895. 



^ 



NATIONAL FLOWER POEMS. 



BY MARGARET B. HARVEY. 



l_The National Flower, or Valley Forge Arbutus. 
2— The National Flower, or Valley Forge Arbutus (new, July 1, 
1893). 

3— The Besom of Destruction (Golden Rod). 

4 — Our Land is Waxing Fat (Corn). 

5_Ode for Valley Forge Day (June 19, 1894). 



21 



«^ 




Margaret B. Harvry. 

Aged sixteen years and six months. From a painting. As she looked 

when she graduated from the Girls' Normal School. 



1 he Trailing Arbutus Endorsed by 
erion Chapter, D. A. 



At a regular meeting of Merion Chapter, D. A. R., held at the 
George Institute, Hestonville, Philadelphia, January 7, 1896, the follow- 
ing resolutions were adopted : 

Whereas, It is right, fitting and proper that a flower whose history 
is merged with the history of our Nation's Independence should be 
adopted as an emblem of our country by the Congress of the United 
States ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That we, the members of Merion Chapter, Daughters 
OF THE American Revolution, petition the members of Congress from 
Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Independence, to present and urge the 
passage of a bill naming the Trailing Arbutus as the flower best suited 
for the emblem heretofore mentioned, and in support of this petition we 
present the following reasons therefor: 

1. The Trailing Arbutus, also called "Ground Laurel," "May- 
flower" and Epigara repens, was the first flower seen by the patriots at 
Valley Forge after their terrible martyrdom — a martyrdom to which 
we owe the present glory of our National life. 

2. It was the first American flower seen by the Pilgrims of New 
England, who called it the "Mayflower," after their vessel. 

3. It was probably known to the early Virginians, and used by them 
in decorating their altar at the first Easter celebration at Jamestown. 

4. Its flowers are shaped like five-pointed American stars, and its 
leaves are evergreen, like laurels. 

5. It is one member of the great family of American laurels. 

6. Its flowers are already represented in the American flag, only 
slightly conventionalized. 

7. Its habitat is the thirteen Original States. 

8. It is peculiarly American. 

9. There is but one species. 

10. The finest specimens occur in neighborhoods consecrated to 
Revolutionary history. _ 

11. It is beautiful in itself. 

12. It loves liberty, resisting cultivation. 

28 



13. The original National Flower Poem (copyrighted), " Valley- 
Forge Arbutus," by Margaret B. Harvey, was brought to public atten- 
tion in connection with the freeing of Washington's headquarters from 
debt, June 19, 1887. 

14. The Trailing Arbutus, as the proposed "National Flower," 
has been recognized by members of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, 
by members of the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association, 
and by several chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

Resolved, That the corresponding secretary be directed to send a 
printed copy of these resolutions to each of our sister chapters through- 
out the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

(Mrs.) Gertrude Harvey Hughes, 

Corresponding Secretary, 
Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. 



HA 



Bi-'Centennial of Lo^^^er Merion 
Friends Meeting-iTouse. 



In October, 1895, Lower Merion Friends' Meeting Piouse celebrated 
its Bi-Centennial. This meeting house stands on the old Lancaster Road 
(now called Montgomery Pike), just beyond Merionville, Montgomery 
County. This is the oldest church edifice in Pennsylvania, and was 
erected in 1695 on the site of a still older log meeting house, built in 
1683. This quaint picturesque structure is in the form of a cross. Its 
walls are made of jointed stone, two feet thick, and its window panes 
are of the small leaded type. The coating of plaster (which really dis- 
figures it) was added in 1829, when, as a small tablet in the side of the 
wall tells us, it was "repaired." 

Inside, above the elders' seats, two pegs are pointed out as those 
upon which William Penn hung his hat when he preached to a Welsh 
congregation (many of whom could not understand him). One of these 
pegs was stolen by a relic-hunter during the Centennial, but another was 
made from a piece of the original floor to replace it. Since that time 
the relic-hunter became conscience-stricken and returned the original 
peg, and it may now be seen in its former place. 

The name Merion, given to this township by the early Welsh colo- 
nists, is derived from that of Merionethshire, Wales. (We are told that 
Merionethshire, itself, was named after the ancient Welsh hero, Merion, 
sometimes spelled Meriawn, who lived early in the Christian era.) The 
first settlers were a company of Welsh colonists, from Bala, Merioneth- 
shire, Wales, who landed on the banks of the Schuylkill, near Pencoyd, 
August 14, 1682, two months before William Penn landed. The first 
recorded burial at Merion is that of a little child, Catharine, daughter of 
Edward and Mabby Rees, October 23, 1682, only two months after the 
landing of the ship "Lyon" at Pencoyd. 

It is known that, for some time after the landing, "meeting" was held 
at the house of Hugh Roberts, at Pencoyd. The ground where the log 
meeting house first stood belonged to Edward Rees, the same who buried 
the little child. The land was sold to the congregation of Friends in 
1695, for $2.50. Descendants of Edward Rees assert that previous to 
this year, ground was leased or loaned, and that if the meeting house 
should ever be disturbed, they could lay claim to it. 

The original 10,000 acres included in what is now Lower Merion, 

25 



was granted to John Ap Thomas, a noble Friend or Quaker, whose royal 
pedigree is recorded all the way back to Adam. The document (a copy 
of which may be seen in the library of the Philadelphia Historical So- 
ciety) goes a long way to carry out the belief of Welsh historians that 
the Welsh are the oldest civilized people in the world, and are descended 
from the Phcenicians, Phrygians and Trojans through Brutus, great- 
grandson of ^Eneas, who landed in Britain 1136 B. C. 

John Ap Thomas died in the spring of 1682 before he had the oppor- 
tunity of seeing his vast possessions in Merion, but his kinsman, Dr. 
Edward Jones, who settled at Wynnewood, brought the colonists over. 
Wynnewood was named after Dr. Thomas Wynne, who was father-in- 
law of Edward Jones, and who was physician to William Penn. William 
Penn ami Dr. Wynne came over in the ship "Welcome," two months 
after the "Lyon" had landed. In Scharf and Westcott's "History of Phil- 
adelphia" may be seen a copy of Holmes' Map, dated 1681. Lower 
Merion appears as "Edward Jones and 17 families." (Miss Llarvey is 
descended from this Edward Jones.) 

Miss Harvey wrote an Ode for the Bi-Cen.tennial Celebration of 
Merion Meeting House, October, 1895. It was published in the Bryn 
Mawr News, and was widely copied at the time. 



2fi 




Margaret B. Harvry. 
As she looked when Merioii Chapter was orj^anized. 



Ode for ike Bi-C^entennial of hoshrer 



erioii rneiids i^leetmg-riouse. 

(OCTOBER 5, 1895.) 
Respectlully Dedicateil to ail DeacenJants of Cambrian Sires. 



I 

Pennsylvania ! Habitation 
With a certain, clear foundation ! 
Where the dawning of the day 
Drives the thick, dark night away! 

Give us here a place to feed ! 
Let us live among Thy seed! 
In our bounds may love and peace 
Still endure and never cease!' 

Then shalt trees and fields increase 
Heaven and earth proclaim Thy peace ! 
We and they forever, Lord, 
Show Thy praise with one accord ! 

Thomas Ellis, 1683. 

II 

So the Keltic bard hath sung, 

In his ancient Cymric tongue ! 

Tongue, his fathers claimed, had first 

Over earth in Eden burst ! 

Angel music sweet from skies, 

Spoke to man in Paradise ! 

Now this tongue hath crossed the wave, 

Slept in Medoc's nameless grave ; 

Lived in Ellis, poet true, 

W^oke to song in Eden new ! 

Need we ask this Eden's name ? 

Merion we proudly claim ! 

(Name of Cymric hero old. 

Sire of kinsmen in our fold!) 

Ellis sang in accents clear, 

27 



While he planted letters here ; 
While he prayed that ever great 
Might endure our glorious state! 
See his prayer a living truth ! 
See our letters' fadeless youth ! 

Ill 

Two full centuries have fled ! 
Ellis with the happy dead 
Lives the while his lyrics rise 
In another Paradise ! 
I'.ut the little Keltic fold. 
Where the faithful came of old, 
Stands today with walls entire — 
Fitting theme for bardic fire ! 

IV 
Merion hath Monument 
Grandest on the Continent ! 
Though its outward form be quaint, 
Spite of age disguised by paint, 
S])ite of stucco on its wall. 
Hiding stone in creamy pall — 
Still the plan of Egypt's cross 
Clearly drawn hath known no loss ; 
Still the solid sides arise 
Castle thick in Keltic wise ; 
Still the shingled roof descends 
Hooding three sharj) gable-ends, 
W'here each creamy trigon face 
Jjears a pediment at base. 
Forming eaves in one, to be 
Shape of sacred Coptic T; 
Still each gable's pediment 
Hath beneath its steep descent 
Porch antique, which seems to soar 
High above the lowly door. 
(White this last for age, too fair. 
Though the iron bars are there!) 
Flying porticoes were planned 
In the childhood of our land, 
Just to hang their sheltering length, 
With no post to give them strength ; 
Now the porch in front displayed 
Needs the simple pillows' aid, 

28 



For our church and state in truth 
Long have passed their early youth ! 

Here a contrast strange appears — 
In those early Keltic years, 
While the lowly lintels spread, 
Window-sills were overhead ! 
Still the windows keep their place, 
Higher than a Quaker's face ; 
Far above the holy ground, 
Heavy shuttered, iron bound. 
White as never wood before — 
Diamond-panes are seen no more ! 

In the gable towards the west, 
Farthest from their place of rest, 
Tablet grey doth keep alive 
Cambrian sires of '95. 

Two full centuries have fled ! 
Dust of holy Keltic dead 
Lies beyond the low grey wall, 
Overspread with grassy pall ; 
Never rumpled by a stone, 
IMent with melting shadows thrown 
From the grove of button wood, 
Which from Cymric days hath stood 
Later mixed with maples red. 
Evergreens above the dead ! 

This God's acre's soil was stirred 
Ere the Germans brought the word ; 
Thirteen years before the date 
Cut the present gable-plate, 
Rose a primal holy place, 
Bark upon its log-wrought face. 

Merion hath Monument 
Grandest on the Continent ! 
See this picture traced by pen. 
Then behold the place again ! 

Step across the flagstone floor 
Under porch above the door ; 
Tread upon the oaken board 
Trod by Pennsylvania's lord ; 
See the benches, backs but rails 
Held with iron bolts and nails ; 
Seek the inner room and see 
In the bar of Egypt's T, 
How antiquity is hid 

29 



With a carpet cover-lid, 
With a painted sheet of white, 
I'utting centuries from sight — 
Yet the ancient dado stays, 
Wrought with winding wormy ways ; 
Yet the peg remains as when 
Holding hat of preaching Penn ; 
Yet the oaken table stands 
Where, outspread by elders' hands, 
La}' the wedding document ; 
While declaring their intent. 
Stood the happy Keltic pair. 
With their grackel eyes and hair. 
Contrast as of night and day 
With their dress of guinea-gray ! 
Yet the gallery extends 
Where were gathered kindly Friends 
With historic pedigrees — 
Many branches, few the trees ! 
All "Welsh Cousins" in the crowd, 
Of the self-same sires were proud! 

V 
Simple sketch this pen hath made, 
See the Meeting-House displayed, 
Which from Keltic days hath stood 
Mid its grove of buttonwood ! 
Fligh above the road are all, 
Framed above a rough stone wall ; 
Picturesque environment 
Long hath charming features lent; 
There's the horse-block, still the same 
As when proud Colonial dame 
From her pillion trod the stone. 
Helped by favored hands alone ; 
There are sheds which blessing bring. 
Stretched like sanctuary's wing. 
Shelter for the faithful beast — 
Mercy's not of virtues least ! 
Then, beyond the grass outspread 
O'er the holy Keltic dead, 
Lies the sacred acre new — 
Tiny tablets rise to view, 
Bearing names Britain brought. 
Then in Keystone's annals wrought. 

80 



Some will never suffer age 
While endures our Nation's page ! 

Merion hath beauteous hills, 
Solemn woods, fantastic rills, 
Fertile fields and meadows gay, 
Gorgeous colors, neutrals gray — 
Still her landscape glories fail. 
Save as scene for Keltic tale ! 
All her brilliant hues were meant 
Background for her monument ! 
Simple monument, but great — 
Oldest church in Keystone State ! 

VI 

Merion hath Monument 
Grandest on the Continent ! 
He who writes our Annals new 
Must admit that this is true ! 

Let Bryn I\Iawr bring forth her sage. 
Who, on recent public page, 
Dared to say, in bold review. 
What each Pennsylvanian knew ; 
That our land's development 
O'er the Western Continent, 
Through the middle northern zone, 
Grew from Middle States alone ! 
Our historians of eld 
Taught the error, blindly held, 
That New England led the way 
For our Nation's coming day ! 
Far enough is this the truth — 
From our country's early youth, 
Dutch and German, Swede and Kelt 
Always made their vigor felt ! 

Kelts would have it understood : 
England gave us all her good 
Through her ancient British strain — 
Saxon was a foreign bane ! 

As our Nation's blood is spread, 
And our land is tenanted 
By migrations westward rolled 
Like a Cymric flood of old. 
Surely must the truth be felt: 
This is land of modern Kelt ! 

Latin races south and north 



31 



From the self-same stock came forth. 
As the Trojan sire whose son 
Brought the blood of Albion, 
Where he felt the prophet-fire, 
Where he strung the bardic lyre ; 
As Phoenician king, whose child 
Braved the nameless ocean wild, 
And, where holy trefoils smile, 
Planted saints in Erin's isle ! 

Norsemen, too. had freely felt 
Influence of Gallic Kelt, 
Ere they crossed the Channel's wave, 
Where a second strain they gave, 
Mending ancient British break. 
Joining forks from ancient lake. 

Teuton stock of old akin 
Unto Kelt perhaps hath been ; 
This we know : akin and great. 
They are one in land and state ; 
Gcrmantovvn and Alerion 
Saw this unity begun ! 
(Schuylkill Wissahickon takes 
.\nd ]\Iill Creek a partner makes ; 
Schuylkill bears its Flolland name 
Where the early Swedish came ; 
Schuylkill touches English place — 
Type of Occidental race!) 

Merion hath Monument 
Grandest on the Continent. 
Just because this Keystone State 
Made our mighty Union great; 
Just because the Quaker Kelt 
First had made his vigor felt! 
Modern Kelts may here behold, 
W^hen two centuries have rolled. 
Oldest Keltic element 
In this sacred monument ! 

VII. 
Japcth turned his pallid face 
Westward toward the sunset's place, 
Crossed the Hellespont and set 
Foot where Europe's sands are wet. 

Sacred writ hath record kept, 
How, in ages dim yclept, 

32 



Japeth's sons divided lands — 

Isles of Gentiles owned their hands ! 

Who was Japeth's greatest son? 
Javan claimed to be the one ! 
Aryan sire, himself he felt 
Kittim was the coming Kelt! 

Kittim's race on History's page 
First illumed the Golden Age ; 
Kittim's race hath marked on map 
Phrygia, with her Freedom-cap; 
Kittim's race hath records set 
In Phoenicia's alphabet ; 
Kittim's race hath drawn the strip 
Where appears Phffinicia's ship — 
(Ship which reached the utmost seas, 
Past the Posts of Hercules!) 
Kittim's race hath pictures limned, 
Never yet by cycles dimmed : — 
Kittim's race defending Troy ; 
Bold ^neas, sire and boy ; 
Trojans' wanderings, perils great ; 
Trojans' founding Roman State — - 
Virgil's themes, in colors massed, 
Cycloramas grandly vast ! 

Yet such colors still are faint 
Kittim's race to fitly paint ! 
Yet such circles small are found 
Kittim's race to fitly bound ! 

Kittim's race to Britain came — 
Brutus gave the isle his name ; 
Brutus from iEneas sprung. 
Grandson of lulus young; 
Thus the Cymric nation springs 
From a line of hero kings ! 
British bards with mystic lyres, 
Quivering with celestial fires ; 
British chariots with knives. 
Horses swift when hero drives — 
These to ancient realm belong. 
Land of battle, land of song! 

Now the Druid cult is dead — 
Keltic Cross hath reared its head. 
Druid Circle forming wreath, 
Sacrifice from lonely heath ! 

Pre-Columbian Medoc sails, 

33 



Braves unknown Atlantic gales, 
Lands on Carolina's shore — 
Seeks his Cambrian home once more, 
Tells a tale of wondrous lands. 
Far beyond the sunset's bands. 
Where the grapes in globes are hung — 
Where might spread the Keltic Tongue; 
Where the scriptures, rolled within, 
Writ by stylus on a skin, 
Might by savage tribes be read; 
Where the cross might rear its head ! 
Medoc spread again his sails, 
Dreaming of a Western Wales; 
But, alas ! his dream, like fame. 
Leaves us little but a name ! 
Though mid wigwam-walls is heard 
Oft an ancient Cymric word. 
As a foreign flower is found 
Rooted here in western ground ! 
Though in wickiup hath been 
Cymric scripture writ on skin. 
As a mummy laid to rest, 
Worshipped in his treasure-chest ! 

Medoc's dream came true — 'twas when 
Rose the Keltic William Penn ! 
He, like Medoc, spread his sails, 
Dreaming of a Western Wales! 

Cambrian sires, their work begun 
Here at holy Merion ! 
Here they wrought the storied Past, 
Coining gold from glamour cast; 
Wrought it into future years, 
Snatching gold from Pioneers ; 
Made their tabernacle shine 
Like the gold from streets divine! 

Merion hath Monument 
Grandest on the Continent ! 

VHL 
Cambrian sires in August came. 
Gave to Merion its name. 
When the sumach first was red. 
And its plumy banners spread 
O'er the banks on either side, 
Where was head of Schuylkill's tide. 

34 



Here the "Lyon" brought its band, 
Keltic exiles from their land, 
Two months earlier than when 
Famous "Welcome" landed Penn, 
Here Pencoyd a wharfage gave ; 
Depth afforded for a cave. 
Such a cave ! its door was framed, 
With Virginia-creeper famed, 
Turning then to crimson glow, 
Future glories thus to show ; 
At its sides and o'er its roof, 
Plumes of coming triumph proof,. 
Waved the ferns in filmy lace, 
Making festive all the place ! 

O'er each Keltic father's head 
Royal canopies were spread, 
Where the green would soon give way 
Unto dyes superbly gay. 
Mocking kindred Keltic clans' — 
Tulip-poplars, leaved with fans; 
Oaks with lyres of Keltic song; 
Chestnuts, dight in streamers long; 
Beeches, hung with tiny trays 
Sheelbarks, draped in palmy sprays; 
Gums, in stars and racquets clad : 
Maples, first like Tartan plaid. 
While the others vary tint, 
Sulphur, garnets, copper hint. 

Ere could fall the autumn leaf, 
Cymric parents hid their grief ; 
This God's-acre thus was stirred 
Ere the Germans brought the word ! 

IX. 

Since the primal holy place 
Rose with bark upon its face, 
Marking site that hence would be 
Ground for Egypt's sacred T. 
Famed while course of empire runs, 
Never have the builders' sons 
Seen their work to pieces brought. 
Seen their glory set at naught! 
Still unique the house doth stand, 
Nursing-mother for our land ! 
Monument of Ouaker State! 



35 



Quaker principles are great ! 
Not because in practice found 
As a rule, both safe and sound — 
This is narrow view to take : 
This would commonplaces make : 

Quaker principles are great 
As a bulwarks of a state ! 
Liberty of conscience planned 
Constitution for our land ! 
Love for brothers later gave 
Freedom unto humblest slave ! 
Love for brothers softens bands 
Tied about the prisoners' hands ! 
Love for brothers saveth shame 
From a reckless father's name ! 
Love for brothers maketh sure 
Letters free for rich and poor! 
Love for brothers surely leads 
Towards the death of war-like deeds — 
Arbitration shortly may 
O'er the new-born world hold sway ! 

X. 

Keltic blood hath saving health 
Brought unto our Commonwealth, 
From the time when Penn held sway 
Down to later troubled day 
When the Anglo-Saxon horde 
Ravaged land with fire and sword! 

Quaker Kelts had never sought 
Blood of man, but bravely fought. 
Some with gifts and some with -pen 
When the times were trying men ! 

Pennsylvania led the way 
For our nation's coming day; 
Freedom's holy document. 
Blazing scroll of God's intent, 
Sent like Revelation down, 
Saw the light in Quaker town ! 

Independence ! 'Tis our boast ! 
And the man who labored most, 
Blazing out a broadened way, 
I) ringing Lidependence-Day. 
Sprang from sires of Merion — 
And his name was Dickinson ! 

36 



Let this name for thousands stand — 
Saints and saviours of our land, 
Who, with sword, or gift, or pen. 
Carried saving health to men — 
They our nation's work have done, 
Fed by blood of Merion ! 

Fame hath roll both long and wide, — 
Bards and warriors side by side; 
Taylor's writ with Boker near, 
Read and Ellis both appear; 
While with these must long remain 
Miles, Cadwallader, and Wayne, 
Flumphreys, Davis, Hancock, Jones, 
Writ as though in tabled stones ! 

Lincoln hath a rightful place 
On the Cymric tablet's face ! 
He had Cymric sires who died 
Past the head of Schuylkill's tide! 
Thus from Cymric sires he drew 
Brother-love that Quakers knew. 
This an outlet found and gave 
Freedom unto humblest slave ! 

Grant hath surely felt the drain 
From White Marsh's olden strain; 
Felt the Keltic fighting fire 
From a pre-historic sire ! 

Boone had early left the land 
Tilled by Cambrian father's hand 
Westward turned, where he might make. 
Path for Pioneers to take — 
Thus arose, to lead the rest 
Heroes from the boundless West ! 

History of Merion 
Follows course of setting sun. 
Touches every land in truth 
From our planet's early youth, 
Since was civilizing fire 
Felt by Kittim's son or sire ! 

XL 

Two full centuries have fled 
Since the holy Keltic dead 
Lived as we, with pulses strong; 
Lived in body, not in song! 

Here their children meet to-day — 

37 



What could gifted prophet say, 

More than this ? Their spirits fall 

Bringing blessings over all ; 

Bidding all to guard the State 

Which they builded strong and great ; 

Bidding all to thicken band 

Blood hath twined throughout our land ! 



88 




Mrs. Louisa Heston Paxson. 

Aged ninety-six years. Merion Chapter's "Real Daughter, 

Mrs. Paxson's father was Col. Edward Heston, 

founder of Hestonville. 



Organization of Merion Chapter, 

D. A. R. 



Miss Harvey was organizer. Charter member, and Historian of 
Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. This Chapter 
was organized at Bala, Montgomery County, Pa., on February 16, 1895, 
with thirteen charter members, among whom was a "real daughter" — 
Mrs. Louisa Heston Paxson, daughter of Col. Edward Pleston, founder 
of Hestonville, who fought in Washington's army. Col. Heston was a 
noted Revolutionary patriot. After the Revolution he was elected to 
the State Legislature, sitting in Philadelphia, later as Judge of the Com- 
mon Pleas, and then to the State Senate. 

On September 14, 1896, Merion Chapter erected a Memorial Stone 
to mark the spot where Washington's army encamped near Lower 
Merion Friends' Meeting House, on September 14, 1777, five days before 
the massacre of Paoli. It was dedicated in the presence of several hun- 
dred people, with a grand ceremonial, including a salute of 45 guns by 
Battery A. Miss Harvey delivered the historical address upon this occa- 
sion. The ground upon which this memorial stands was presented by 
Samuel R. McDowell. 

On October 19, 1896, there took place in San Francisco, California, 
an event which was of interest to every patriotic citizen of the United 
States, and in particular to every resident of the thirteen original States. 
It was the planting of thirteen trees in Golden Gate Park to represent the 
thirteen original States. Each State sent a tree from some Revolutionary 
spot, with historic earth to be placed about its roots. The idea originated 
with Mrs. Gertrude Harvey Hughes, a member of Merion Chapter. 
Merion Chapter, in co-operation with Sequoia Chapter (of San Fran- 
cisco), worked to interest other chapters and bring the matter to a suc- 
cessful conclusion. The trees were planted in a semi-circle, with Penn- 
sylvania's tree to represent the Keystone. This was a cedar from Valley 
Forge Battle Ground, sent by Mrs. Anna M. Holstein, Regent of Valley 
Forge Chapter, D. A. R., and a member of the Valley Forge Centennial 
and Memorial Association. The French Government sent some earth 
from Lafayette's tomb to be placed at the root of Pennsylvania's tree. 
This was deposited by the French Consul residing in San Francisco. 
Delaware County Chapter, D. A. R., sent earth from the spot in Chester 
where William Penn first trod on Pennsylvania soil. Miss Harvey, with 



her usual loyal, apparently inexhaustible enthusiasm, visited all the noted 
historical spots in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, and collected earth 
to send to California to be placed about the roots of the trees. (In all 
she collected and sent 100 packages.) 

Other States sent trees as follows : 

New Hampshire — A sugar maple from the homestead of General 
Stark. 

Massachusetts — An elm from Concord. 

Rhode Island — A birch from the birthplace of General Nathaniel 
Greene. 

Connecticut — A young oak grown from an acorn of the Charter 
Oak. 

New York — A white oak from the battleground of Saratoga. 

New Jersey — A linden from Washington's headquarters at Somer- 
ville. 

Delaware — A red maple from Belmont Hall, Smyrna, where the 
State Legislature met in 1777. 

Maryland — A liquid amber from the grave of Francis Scott Key, 
author of "The Star-Spangled Banner." 

Virginia — A chestnut from the grave of Thomas Jefferson. 

North Carolina — A hackberry from the battleground of Guilford 
Court House. 

South Carolina — A magnolia from Fort Moultrie, Sullivan's 
Island. 

Georgia — A catalpa from Savannah. 

The tree planting appealed particularly to Miss Harvey, as she was 
a lover of Nature. She was a botanist of wide reputation, being the 
author of the "Flora of Lower Merion," and also of "Botany of the 
Eastern States." Through her efforts the early members of Merion 
Chapter took up the study of the local flora. The Schuylkill Valley is 
the classic botanical locality of the North American Continent, as it is 
the scene of the early explorations of Bartram, Kalm, Michaux, Raf- 
finesque, Nuttall, Audubon, and others. 



Merion Chapter, D. A. R., adopted a "Chapter Song" and a "Chap- 
ter Hymn," which were sung for the first time at the June meeting, 1896. 
They were composed by the Historian, Miss Margaret B. Harvey, and 
were set to old Welsh airs. The poems follow : 



40 



Song of tke Dames of Merion, 

Welsh air, "March of the Men of Harlech." 

Merion hath hills and valleys 

Where the dashing streamlet dallies ; 

Woods where Nature's beauty rallies, 

Every year and day ! 

Merion hath glory ! 

Linked to ancient story ! 

All her vales are filled with tales 

Of Patriot and Tory ! 

All her woods and hills are teeming 

With the blades of promise gleaming ; 

Gold of future fruitage beaming 

Shines from every spray ! 

Merion hath sturdy yeomen, 

Sprung from race of Cymric bowmen. 

Ever quick to scorn the foeman. 

Ready for the fray ! 

Merion hath beauty! 

Dames alive to duty ! 

All their hearts despise the arts 

Of spoilers bent on booty! 

Merion hath brought our Nation 

Blood to bathe its first foundation. 

Pure as fount of first creation, 

On creation's day ! 

Merion hath linked her story 
With our nation's spreading glory ! 
Let it live till Time is hoary, 
Till millennial day ! 
Merion hath vision ! 
Bardic eyes' precision ! 
This discerned our foes o'erturned, 
And made the world's derision! 
Raise we, then, our bardic chorus. 
While we see the path before us 
Kept by God of Nation's o'er us 
Clear for triumph's way ! 

41 




Merion Chapter's Charter 
Is framed in historic wood. The frame itself is one ot the original 
window frames from the tower of the State House, Philadelphia. The 
window swung on hinges. The wood holding the hinges decayed to 
such an extent that it became necessary to put a new frame in. The old 
one was presented to Miss Harvey, and she in turn presented it to 
Merion Chapter. Mr. Shelly T. Jones, who arranged the charter in the 
frame, filled in the broken sections with historic wood and made the 
letters M and C to cover the places repaired. The keystone at the top is 
from the William Penn House. The letters M and C are made from 
wood from Merion Meeting House. The thirteen stars from a piece of 
lath from the Betsy Ross House. The carpenters' square and compass 
at the bottom from Carpenters' Hall. The steel filings from a piece of 
the original band which held the Liberty Bell, 



erion s Hymn. 

Air, "Mean" 

Our Fathers' God ! To thee we bow ; 
O give us light and truth ! 
Renew our fathers' spirit now, 
Renew our country's youth. 

Our fathers fled across the wave ; 

To M erion they came ; 

And brought the Gospel truth which gave 

A light of heavenly flame ! 

No song they raised amid the wood 
But reared their simple hall, 
A fortress for the silent good, 
Who felt the Spirit's call. 

But we, their children, join in bands 
To sing their country's lays ; 
To raise our voices where their hands 
Built up their Maker's praise. 

The fields around the humble fane 
Have smiled with plenteous good, 
And we, their children, come again 
To worship in the wood. 

Our fathers' God! To thee we bow, 
And seek Thy light and truth ! 
Renew our fathers' spirit now ; 
Renew our country's youth ! 



43 



iss Harvey s Tribute to 
George B. Roberts. 



On November 16, 1887, at a meeting held at the residence of the 
late George B. Roberts, at Pencoyd Farm, Bala, it was determined to 
organize a parish and build a church. The following named were elected 
a Vestry: George B. Roberts, Joseph R. Rhoads, Jacob L. Stadelman, 
R. Francis Wood, John S. Gerhard, Percival Roberts, David E. Williams, 
Robert Dennison and George L. Crawford. 

The question of a proper site was determined upon at a meeting 
of the Vestry held January 30, 1888, when Mr. George B. Roberts, for 
himself and sisters, offered to present a tract of ground upon which 
to build the church. It had previously been decided at a meeting held 
December 12, 1887, that the name of the church be that of "the Church 
of St. Asaph." The name was suggested by the late Horatio Gates 
Jones, then president of the Welsh Society. This seemed very appro- 
priate, as Bala is in what is known as the "Welsh Tract." 

Asai, or Asaph, was a native of North Wales, and a follower of 
Kentigern, founder of the ^Monastery of Llan Elwy, in the year 545. 
Asai was made head of the monastery. He later became Bishop and 
gave his name to the sect over which he presided. Asaph was noted for 
his learning and many virtues, and was renowned as a preacher. He 
died May 1, 596. 

The cornerstone of vSt. Asaph's, Bala, Pennsylvania, was laid on the 
afternoon of Tuesday, May 8, 1888, with impressive ceremonies, by 
Bishop Ozi Whitaker. 

In the south transept of the church is a beautiful window (blessed 
December 9, 1895) given by lineal descendants of John Roberts, the first 
settler of the land upon which the church is built. In the north tran- 
sept is another equally beautiful window (blessed December 1, 1896) in 
memory of Elizabeth Good Williams. Bishop Olmstead, when Rector 
of St. Asaph's, said of these windows that "they make our two transepts 
seem like the wings of some wondcrous archangel of the inner skies, 
touched with the splendors of the throne." 

Gorge B. Roberts (descended from the earliest Welsh settlers who 
came over on the ship "Lyon" and landed at Pencoyd, August 14, 1682) 
died January 30, 1897, just nine years from the day upon which he gave 
the site for St. Asaph's, and he was buried from the new church. 

45 



Miss Plarvey wrote a poem upon the death of Mr. Roberts. It was 
pubhshed in The Bryn Mawr News, and copied into the Railroad 
Magazine, the official organ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 



4S 



In Memoriam. 



George Brooks Roberts, Died January 30, 1897. 



I. 

Cymric fathers ! greet your son 
Who from heights of Merion 
Mounts to-day in spirit-guise, 
Seeking you in Paradise! 
Keltic sires ! Receive your own 
From the sacred soil made known 
When mid Keystone's hills and vales 
You built up a Western Wales ! 

II. 

Band of Bala ! Ye who wrought ; 
Light of Keltic glory brought — 
Bardic scroll whose record blends 
History's extremest ends — 
Take your son and bid him meet, 
All his sires heroic greet — 
Merion, of Cymric fame ; 
Brutus giving British name; 
Great /Eneas, Virgil's king; 
Tros, of whom in Troy we sing; 
Dardan, Phrygia's monarch bold ; 
Jupiter and Saturn old ; 
Kittim, who hath spread his race, 
Where the Gentiles had a place ; 
Javan, Japeth, making felt 
Rise of Aryan and Kelt ! 
Band of Bala ! bid your son 
Meet his fathers, one by one — 
Tell them that their hero blood 
Sweeping down the ages' flood. 
Still doth keep its glories great 
In the Keltic Keystone State ! 
State whose rising glories stream 
Realizing Medoc's dream — 
State as sylvan fair as when 

47 



Came his kinsman, William Penn — 
State whose mountain peaks are bomid 
Fast to vales and level ground ; 
Bound in loops of steel as strong 
As the blood of Keltic song! 
He who bound — of him we sing — 
He was a modern Keltic king! 

HI. 
Keltic bards in Paradise 
Tune your harps and bid him rise ! 
Bards belov/ have lost the gift — 
They can lamentations lift, 
But no longer can they blend 
With the sorrow of a friend, 
Hero-song and eulogy, 
Hope of immortality. 
All combined to melt the heart, 
Make the tears like sorrows start, 
Kindle blood with sacred fire. 
Bid the soul as flame aspire — 
Bardic odes survive in tales 
Told of vanished kings in Wales ! 

IV. 
Here a king hath fallen low. 
Found his bed beneath the snow ! 
Feeble rills our grief appears — 
Rains have wept to mock our tears ! 
Desolation, cold and gloom 
Serve to show our loss its room ! 
This a king in modern day — 
When the arts of peace hold sway; 
^^'hen no more the modern lord 
Grasps the antiquated sword ; 
When a whim of bound or grief 
Makes no wars for doughty chief — 
Ruled he element and cause, 
Motions, times and tides and laws ; 
These arc fates and foes as bold 
As e'er met the kings of old! 
And the rule that gave them check, 
Held them passive at his beck, — 
This is sovereignty as great 
As a King's of ancient state! 

48 



V- 
Keltic bards in Paradise 
Meeting him in spirit-guise, 
Sweep thy strin?;s as olden lyres 
Quickened by celestial fires ! 
This new spirit joins the song — 
He on earth hath lived it long; 
Long the holy ground he trod 
Where his fathers worshipped God ! 
Where the band of Bala bore 
Light of truth to Schuylkill's shore ; 
Reared the Keltic cross to bless 
Pennsylvania's wilderness ! 
Read the story — it is told 
In a flood of red and gold. 
Poured through ornate window raised 
Where his sires in spirit praised ; 
Where of yore the honored name 
First to Schuylkill Valley came. 
Storied window, sacred made, 
Blessing in prismatic shade, 
Then, thy melting lights hast s])read 
O'er this chieftain's fallen head ; 
As a wave of blood and fire, 
Leaping from heroic sire, 
Once again in light appears, 
Bridging two full hundred years; 
Light that glorifies our loss, 
Shines upon the Keltic cross ! 
Light of life in spirit-guise, 
Keltic bard in Paradise ! 

VL 

Where this royal window pours 
Radiance from historic stores ; 
Where in massive stone 'tis set, 
Keltic angel's monument: 
Where is reared a structure quaint. 
Bearing name of Keltic saint, 
Overtopped by tower planned 
From the one in Cambrian land. 
Here before the altar graced 
By the cross he there had placed, 
Lay our venerated dead 
Blessings falling on his head ! 

49 



choirs celestial him attend 
Saints from Paradise descend ! 
(Typified by choral band, 
Robed in white like whitened land!) 
Souls that erst had heard his plaints, 
In communion with all saints ; 
Souls that hovered o'er his head 
When he took the holy bread; 
Souls that breathed their love divine 
With the consecrated wine; 
Souls that consummation wait 
In the blessed second state ; 
Souls that bind communicant 
With the whole church Militant ; 
Souls of all who e'er adored, 
Waited on their Risen Lord ! 
Where our Risen Lord is shown. 
Makes his real presence known. 
In His holy table spread — 
Here we laid our sacred dead ! 
Awed the throng who gathered here, 
God's own tabernacle near; 
Hushed while mighty organ's roll 
Opens pathway for a soul ; 
Touched while choral song aspires, 
Borrowed from celestial choirs ; 
Melted when the priestly voice 
Bids our spirits still rejoice! 
What a sight is such a throng! 
Men with nerves and muscles strong; 
Men who honors simply wear, 
Kingly crowns their hoary hair; 
Men whose wont is war to make 
With whole destinies at stake — 
Men who never shed a tear. 
Sorrow's moisture dropping here ; 
Lords of earth by tempest hurled 
At the door of future world ! 

VII. 
Laurel Hill! receive the frame 
Whence has fled the holy flame ! 
Schuylkill Valley ! in thy breast 
Give thy dust again its rest ! 
Monument it needeth none — 

60 



There are hills in Merion ! 

Cymric tract hath streams and vales 

Bearing still the names of Wales, 

Keeping thus the sacred fires 

In our hearts, from Keltic sires ! 

Living records all aglow 

Hold the name we love and know ! 

VIII. 

How shall future records read? 
What shall be to-morrow's meed? 
Modern king, to-day as great 
As a chief in Church or State ; 
Modern saint, triumphant dead 
With a halo round his head ! 
Can the world a tribute add, 
World whose heart hath never had 
Love like ours who draw their blood 
From the ancient Cymric flood ! 
Yes ! the world who only knew 
Pennsylvania, mother true, 
Spreading life from Keystone State, 
Making all our Nation great — 
Knows how well our fallen chief 
Lived and wrought his firm belief 
In the grandeur, yet to be 
Of our Nation's destiny! 
Call our fallen chieftain great — 
He was builder of a State ! 

IX. 

Passes thus our holy dead 
With a halo round his head ! 



51 



Miss liarvey as an liistorian. 



Miss Harvey was not merely a local historian, but was known 
thronghont the United States. She has not only done much work in 
rescuing old records and writing the histories of old buildings at home, 
but has aided other States in like work. In the Third Smithsonian Re- 
port of the National Society, D. A. R., page 235, appears the following: 
"Miss Margaret R. Harvey, historian of Merion Chapter, copied an 
orderly book and several letters, the work of Revolutionary soldiers, 
and sent them to the State Librarian at Harrisburg, Pa., to be embodied 
in the Pennsylvania Archives. While working on these x\rchives she 
found that a battalion of Georgia Continentals, under Colonel John White, 
were encamped near Bala, in August, 1777. Step by step she has fol- 
lowed those ragged, footsore men through musty manuscripts and pages 
of history wherever she could find a trace of them, picking up a name 
here and there until she has gathered 2,609 names. Her work' in con- 
nection with the list of Georgia's Revolutionary soldiers is mentioned in 
the report of Georgia (and her list of names compiled from sources 
outside the State Archives forms entire Appendix F.). Such indefati- 
gable work undertaken for the glory of another State is rare. She 
believes that those early pioneers whose bones are moldering on many 
fields far distant from their homes, will rise up against her on the day 
of judgment if she omits one name which any possible research might 
have revealed and preserved to posterity." 

From The Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., Sunday, April 1, 1900. 

"The co-operation and enthusiastic spirit existing between the women 
of the D. A. R. can have no better illustration than the work done by 
Miss Margaret B. Harvey, of Pennsylvania, who has but recently com- 
pleted in manuscript form the first volume of Georgia Archives. 

The manuscript, a voluminous one, is remarkable in many respects, 
and its 375,000 words are in the clear, bold handwriting of Miss Harvey. 
She is in many senses a remarkable woman, and has done more in the 
past nine years in the matter of Revolutionary history than any one 
woman or organization of men and women of the United States. 

Miss Harvey is loyally allied to the Revolutionary history of her 
country. In her interest and researches she knows no one section, but 
whenever work in this line is needed she goes into it with that unselfish 

5S 



interest, patience and earnestness so necessary in an undertaking of that 
nature. . . . While searching the Pennsylvania Archives for the 
history of the Welsh Tract, Miss Harvey, as historian of the Merion 
Chapter, unearthed the fact that the Georgia Continental Battalion, 
under Col. John White, encamped in Lower Merion in August, 1777. 
That meant that this battalion took part in the campaign about Phila- 
delphia, which included the Brandywine, Germantown and Valley Forge. 
In this way she became interested in the Georgia Archives. 

HER WORK FOR GEORGIA. 

During the recent convention of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution in Washington, Miss Harvey showed her first volume of 
Georgia Archives, which she presents to Georgia, through Mrs. William 
Lawson Peel, one of the charter members of llie first chapter organ- 
ized in Georgia, and now regent of the Joseph Habersham Chapter. 

Governor Allen D. Chandler, of Georgia, with a party of distin- 
guished friends, was in Washington at the time, and his attention was 
called to Miss Harvey's work. 

Struck by the care and preparation of the manuscript, and appre- 
ciating the work it must have taken for such research and trouble, the 
Governor asked Miss Harvey the object for her interest in Georgia's 
history, and the study and research she had made in that direction. 

It was then she convinced him of what her friends and admirers 
were aware — that it was her love and i)ride in Revolutionary history. 

" 'While searching the Pennsylvania Archives for the history of the 
Welsh Tract,' she said, T unearthed the fact that the Georgia Continen- 
tal Battalion, under Colonel John White, encamped in Lower Merion, 
August, 1777. That meant that this battalion took part in the campaign 
about Philadelphia, which included the Brandywine, Germantown and 
Valley Forge, and from being possessed of that fact I became interested 
in the work that resulted in this very pleasurable one I have of seeing 
you now looking over the first volume of Georgia Archives,' and Miss 
Harvey's big brown eyes beamed with pleasure as she noted the wrapt 
attention with which Georgia's Governor examined her work." 

But Miss Harvey did not begin the Archives for the State of Georgia 
only ; she did a similar work for Delaware. In the Fourth Smithsonian 
Institute Report of the National Society, D. A. R. (October 11, 1900, 
to October 11, 1901), page 310, appears the following: Miss IMargaret 
B. Harvey has prepared a series of historic papers which have been 
received by the public with much interest. (For "List of Historic Spots 
in Blockley, Pa., etc., see Appendix F of this volume.) She has also 
commenced the compilation of a series of Continental Archives or papers, 
relating to the Colonial and Revolutionary history of States not gener- 

54 



ally regarded as parts of the original thirteen. Miss Harvey's work in 
connection with the list of Georgia's Revolutionary soldiers, mentioned 
last year, has been followed by a somewhat similar effort in connection 
with the names and services of Delaware soldiers. Delaware is credited 
with having sent into the field 2,386 continental soldiers, and about 1,614 
militia, or 4,000 in all. Miss Harvey's list includes 1,233 names, conti- 
nental and militia, less than half the number required, but it is said to 
be the longest list that has yet been compiled. (The list is given in 
Appendix E, this volume.) It is not believed that the whole 4,000 can 
ever be gathered, as it is known that many soldiers from Delaware 
enlisted in other States. 

Appendix F, of this same volume, fills 9 pages : It is given entirely 
to Miss Harvey's historical sketches of Blockley Township; West Fair- 
mount Park; the Centennial Grounds; the Garrett Mansion; Brunnen- 
wald; Mount Prospect; Greenland; Belmont, or "Peters' Farm;" Tom 
Moore's Cottage; Lansdowne; Camp Ground of the North Carolina Bat- 
talion ; Camp Ground of the British ; George's Hill ; The Ford ; The 
State in Schuylkill; Solitude; Shad Fisheries; Roberts' Hollow; the 
Five Points ; Wynnstay ; Hestonville ; Blockley Baptist Church ; the 
Rose Family Burying Ground; the Leech Family Burying Ground; 
Woodlands Cemetery; Washington's Camp Ground; the Middle Ferry; 
the Lower Ferry ; the Upper Ferry, and Old Roads. 



55 



Appendix H, Third Sniitnsonian Institute 
Report, National Society, D. A. R, 



This appendix covers pages 403 to 407, inclusive. It is devoted 
entirely to a list of historic spots in Lower Merion, Pa., prepared by 
Miss Margaret B. Harvey. The list includes Lov/er Alerion Township; 
old stone mansion of John Roberts, near Pencoyd, built 1683 ; Lower 
Merion Friends' Meeting House, built 1695 ; old stone house of Robert 
Owen, built in 1695; General Wayne Tavern, built 1704, old stone build- 
ing which has been used as a blacksmith shop for 102 years ; old stone 
house belonging to Friends' Meeting House, built 1695 ; General Wayne's 
Encampment, old Price mansion, near Merion Meeting; old Black Horse 
Tavern, camp ground of the Georgia Battalion of Continentals imder 
Col. John White, at Bala ; Levering's Ferry, near the present Manayunk 
bridge ; Righter's Ferry, between Manayunk and Pencoyd ; Penn-Gaskel 
Farm, near Mill Creek ; Revolutionary Powder Mill on Mill Creek ; 
Revolutionary Paper Mill on Mill Creek, founded by Scheetz family 
before 1700, or even earlier; Kettle Mill, said to be the oldest rolling mill 
in United States; Grist Alill, operated by the Tory, John Roberts; old 
stone mansion, once the residence of John Roberts, on Mill Creek ; 
General Potter's Camp Ground, near Mill Creek; Black Rocks, near Mill 
Creek ; Lafayette's Crossing, near Conshohocken, and called in his time 
Matson's Ford ; Gulph Mills ; Gulph Camp Ground ; Lloyd Jones' F'aper 
Mills, on Rock Hollow Creek; Bryn Mawr Mansion; Harriton Family 
Cemetery; Lower Merion Baptist Church; St. Paul's Fvangelical Luthern 
Church; Picking Family Graveyard; West Laurel Hill Cemetery; Lower 
Merion Friends' Burying Ground ; Brookfield Mansion ; "Old Vineyard," 
near Bala ; the Ford Road ; Old Lancaster Road ; Old Gulph Road ; 
Lancaster Turnpike ; ]\leeting House Lane ; Righter's Ferry. A concise 
description of each is given. 



56 



YE 


PUBLIC INAUGURATION 

of 

MERION CHAPTER 






was neld in 




Y= Setting Room* 




oi 


Y^ 


Ola General \Vayne Tavern 




LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP 


April 


Seventeenth, 1895, two to five P. M. 


Members of Chapter appeared in Martha Washington costume 



MERION CHAPTER'S GAVEL 

IS made from a piece of historic -wood from Lower 
Merion Friends' Meeting House, huilt 1695, the 
oldest Church edifice in the State. When, in 1895, 
preparations for the Bi-Centennial of that ancient 
building were being made, it -was found necessary to 
replace a worm-eaten beam. From a portion of this 
the gavel -was made. This gavel was made by Mr. 
bhelly 1 . Jones and the silver mountings were given 
by the Regent of the Chapter, Dora Harvey Develin. 



Miss Harvey Organized Alaska Chapter, 



Another remarkable work done for love of ihe D. A. R. by Miss 
Harvey was the organizing of the Alaska Chapter, at Sitka. On page 
266 of the Fifth Smithsonian Report, N. S. D. A. R., we read, under 
the head of Merion Chapter, the following: "This Chapter had the 
pleasure and privilege of standing sponsor for the first chapter in Alaska. 
During 1902 Mrs. (May Helen Fay) Pendleton, wife of Capt. Joseph 
H. Pendleton, Marine Barracks, Sitka, Alaska, inaugurated the prelimi- 
nary work of forming the first chapter in Alaska. By a fortuitous cir- 
cumstance she entered into correspondence with Miss Margaret B. 
Harvey. Mrs. Pendleton was admitted into membership in the society 
on October 1, 1902, and on the same day was appointed regent for the 
new chapter. Seven ladies have made application for admission. The 
chapter will meet in a picturesque log house of two rooms, once the 
property of the Russian Government (built 1831). It is hoped that 
eligible women all over the territory will become interested. Although 
still unorganized, the ladies have started the work of establishing a 
reference library in Sitka, as this old town does not contain an estab- 
lishment of this kind." (The log house was built by the Russians in 
1831.) 

On pages 146 and 147, of the Seventpi Smithsonian Report, N. S. 
D. A. R., appears the following, sent by Mrs. M. F. Pendleton, Alaska's 
Regent: Although Sitka is a small place containing, perhaps, not over 
100 inhabitants of American ancestry, 14 ladies were found who were 
desirous of becoming members, and who thought that their records could 
be established. Accordingly the application papers of the ladies wishing 
to join the society (D. A. R.) were sent to Miss Margaret B. Harvey, 
of Merion Chapter, Pennsylvania, who completed their records. 

At the meeting of June 19, 1913, a fac-simile of the Declaration 
of Independence was presented to the Chapter by Miss Margaret B. 
Harvey. 

The charter frame is made of mahogany and is inlaid with wood 
from the floor of the Lower Merion Friends' Meeting House, built in 



Note — In appreciation of the great work done for the Alaska Chapter, the 
members of that Chapter presented Miss Harvey with a gold Russian Cross. This 
cross was among her most prized possessions. 

57 



1695, the oldest church edifice in Pennsylvania. This wood, which is 
also inlaid in the Chapter gavel, was presented to Alaska Chapter by 
the Merion Chapter of Pennsylvania." 

Letter from Mrs. Pendleton, wife of Captain Joseph H. Pendleton: 

Marine Barracks, 
Sttka, Alaska, February 9, 1903. 
My Dear Miss Harvey : 

By this mail I send a postal to Merion Chapter to thank them for 
the box of books which has just been unpacked. They all came in good 
condition, and will be such a pleasure to us. We can never be grateful 
enough to you for your interest and trouble. Thursday they will go 
over to the Club House, and all will be delighted. We are having book 
cases made for them. 

The Alaska Chapter will meet in the Club House and will have one 
of the rooms to furnish and decorate. There are eleven beautiful flags 
in that room now belonging to the Club, and the care of these will lik»?ly 
be one of the duties of the "Daughters." 

I hope one of the first undertakings will be to erect a Tablet in the 
Greek Church here to the memory of Catherine of Russia, who was the 
first sovereign to recognize American Independence. I know the Rus- 
sian Bishop very well, and think he can obtain the necessary permission 
from the Russian Government. Of course, it would be a long time before 
this Chapter could raise enough for such an object, but in my last letter 
to Mrs. Darwin I asked her if it would be possible to put a notice in the 
magazine, or in what other way we could reach other Chapters who 
might like to help us? 

We shall especially enjoy the books by your sister; they are all 
new to us. . . . I must say good-bye for this time, with very many, 
many thanks for the books and all your kindness in securing them for 
us, and also for your many other kindnesses to us all. Remember me 
to your sisters and the other members of your Chapter. Some day we 
will surely meet, and will feel like old friends. 

Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) IMary Fay Pendleton. 

(Mrs. Pendleton came East several years later and visited with 
Miss Harvey, and the friendship lasted till broken by death.) 



58 



Valley Forge Day, June 19, 1903. 



On June 19, 1903. the 125th Anniversary of Washington's Evacua- 
tion of Valley Forge was celebrated there. Fully 7,000 people took part 
in the commemoration of "Evacuation Day." In the morning the corner- 
stone of the Washington Memorial Chapel was laid with impressive 
ceremonies. Forty clergymen and fifty or sixty choristers — men, women, 
girls and boys — took -part in it. The low-hanging foliage of the dense, 
young wood cast dancing, mottled shadows over the clergy and choris- 
ters in their ecclesiastic garb, making a beautiful picture as they moved 
in slow procession qnd recession, a band of brass instruments at their 
head playing the time-honored airs of the Church. 

From the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Saturday morning, June 
20, 1903. 

AN ARMY OF PEACE ON VALLEY FORGES HILLS. 



THE CHAPEL CORNERSTONE LAID. 



A small platform and the angle of a foundation, just begun, mark 
the spot in the woods, close beside the road. Avhere the Washington 
Chapel is to stand. Near the entrance to the woods an American flag 
floated from a tall pole, the latter bearing a placard with an inscription 
in honor of Betsy Ross. When the throng, in which were nearly half a 
, hundred clergy in their surplices, and an even greater number of vested 
choristers, pressed close around the platform, which was almost com- 
pletely embowered by foliage, and the venerable Bishop Whitaker began 
the service, the scene was most impressive. After the processional was 
sung Col. L Fleston Todd, the donor, and his wife, of the ground on 
which the chapel is to be erected, made a brief address of presentation, 
and handed over the deed of title to the Bishop, who, in reply, said: 

"It gives me great pleasure to accept from you and your wife this 
property where the Chapel is to be erected in memory of George Wash- 
ington and of those who fought with him in the struggle for liberty, and 
I accept it in the name of the trustees to whom the property is conveyed 
in the name of the convocation of Norristown, in the name of the 
Diocese of Pennsylvania, in the name of all who are here assembled, 

59 



in the name of the adjoining Dioceses, and I think it not too much to say 
that I accept it in the name of all lovers of their country throughout the 
whole United States. May God's blessing rest on this impulse which 
has led yovi to make this conveyance, and may the work so auspiciously 
begun to-day be a continuing means of doing good in all the generations 
that are to come." 

The usual rite for the laying of a cornerstone was carried out in 
full. A large metal box was placed \\'ithin the ponderous block, and the 
contents included : 

The Holy Bible, Prayer Book and Hymnal ; Journal of the Diocese 
of Pennsylvania, 1902; Address of Bishop Whitaker and other papers 
relating to the Diocesan Convention, 1903 ; Norristown Daily Herald, 
February 23, 1903, containitig the sermon in which Rev. W. Herbert 
Burk, rector of All Saints' P. E. Church, Norristown, Pa., suggested the 
erection of the Washington Memorial Chapel ; various secular and church 
papers containing articles on the subject, and a poem, "The National 
Flower, or Valley Forge Arbutus," by Miss Margaret B. Harvey (Merion 
Chapter, D. A. R.). History of All Saints' Church, Norristown, Pa., 
by the late Henry R. Brown ; pictures and papers relating to Norristown 
and Philadelphia churches; the usual money and stamps, order of the 
laying of the cornerstone and the Programme of the 125th Anniversary 
Celebration, badges of the day and of the Quaker City Chapter, D. A. 
R. ; stone from Calvary, Jerusalem; from Glastonbury, England; from 
lona, Scotland, and old Sarum, England ; piece of a rafter of Christ 
Church, Alexandria, Virginia ; piece of the elm of Cambridge, under 
which Washington took command of the American forces, July 2, 1775; 
piece of Independence PTall, Philadelphia; the Philadelphia "Public 
Ledger/' and other papers for June 19, 1903, and an "American flag." 

The afternoon exercises took place at Fort Huntington, a portion of 
the camp ground, beginning at 2 o'clock. The programme was as fol- 
lov/s : 

Alusic — Phoenix Military Band. 

Festival Hymn — Chorus of 500 voices. 

Prayer — The Rev. Dr. Henry C. ^IcCook. 

Chorus — "God Guard Columbia." 

Poem — "The Sentinel of Valley Forge," by Mrs. Mary E. Thropp 
Cone. 

Address — Hon. Walter S. Logan, President of the S. A. R. of New 
York. 

Chorus — "Waken, Voice of the Land's Devotion," words written 
by Bayard Taylor for the Valley Forge Celebration in 1878. 

Address — Mrs. Adaline W. Sterling, N. J., President-General of 
the Daughters of the Revolution. 

60 



Solo and Chorus — "The American Hymn." Solo by J. O. K. 
Robarts. 

Address — Mrs. Donald McLean, Regent New York City Chapter, 
D. A. R.* 

Chorus — ^"Hail V^alley Forge." 

Poem — "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent Reign- 
eth," by Miss Margaret B. Harvey of Philadelphia. 

Chorus — "The Heroes of Valley Forge." 

Address — Charles Emory Smith, of Philadelphia. 

Grand PLillelujah Chorus — By Handel. 

Benediction — Rev. Dr. R. AL Green 

PVom the Public Ledger: 

"At the 'patriotic service' in the afternoon, Rev. Dr. H. C. McCook, 
of Philadelphia, made the opening prayer. Poems by Mrs. E. Thropp 
Cone and Miss Margaret B. Harvey, of Philadelphia, were read. The 
latter was entitled, 'Ode for Valley Forge Day,' and contains these lines : 

O Valley Forge ! O ringing name ! 

The 'Forge' suggests the deathless flame, 

The glowing mass, the hammer strong. 

The sound of music, metal's song. 

By which our Nation rose to shine — 

The Vulcan-ALiker all divine ! 

O .^tna in the Valley Hill ! 

The wondrous fire is bursting still ; 

How trembled earth at Crater's glow 

In first eruption, years ago! 

O Valley Forge ! What chains were wrought 

And over ocean boastful brought ! 

But we had fires and hammers, too — 

Our vulcans struck and shackles flew ! 

Miss Harvey's poem, which was read by Prof. Francis L. Lybarger, 
was received with great enthusiasm. Miss Plarvey v/as asked to rise so 
that those assembled might see the author of the stirring words. She 
did so, her cheeks aglow, and her glorious eyes bright with happiness. 
(She loved Valley Forge — every hill and dale of it!) 



*Mrs. Donald McLean afterwards became President-General of the National 
Society, D. A. R. She served four years, two terms, in this capacity, the highest 
in the organization. 



61 



Ode for Valley Forge Day. 



I. 

"Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 

Hallelujah ! ! 
Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 

Hallelujah!! 
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! ! ! 

Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! ! 
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! ! !" 

From woods of June the chorus swells ! 

Each note of thrill ecstatic tells. 

For every singer's pulse doth beat 

With patriotic ferver-heat, 

As though the blood which warms each heart 

From ground beneath had sudden start. 

And leaped from hearts of fathers dead 

And coursed through children's veins instead; 

With rise as swift as bodies may 

Ascend on Resurrection Day ! 

H Nature had such process wrought 
Nor nursed through century her thought. 
These hearts could no more ardor know 
Than theirs to-day through process slow; 
Their fathers' blood, their birthright still, 
Doth beat in each ecstatic thrill ; 
The swell majestic sweeps the skies, 
And Handel's vision meets our eyes — 
"For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! !" 

n. 

Behold the shaking forest-trees ! 

'Tis not the gentle summer breeze. 

That fitly moves each leaf and limb — 

Nor yet, alone, the deathless hymn ; 

These trees have drawn from blood-soaked ground 

63 



The sap that carved their pillars round, 

That draped their boughs with living shrouds ; 

That pushed their twij^s to brush the clouds ; 

Each note that soars from blood akin 

To sap which flows each tree within, 

Sends thrills through every leaf and limb 

Beyond the power of deathless hymn ! 

(How plain the patriot's eye must see 

The bond uniting heart and tree ! 

How patriot's daughter, patriot's son, 

And patriot's blood-bought land are one!) 

These trees are moved with patriot thrills — 

They flash along the Valley Hills ! 

The trees in every State are caught 

As branchless trees v/ith wire-tracked thought, 

And all our people feel the flash — 

Their hearts sujiply the thunder crash ! 

And all our people join to raise 

The Hallelujah's storm of praise ! 

"For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! !" 

III. 

These sacred trees on holy ground, 

In centre of cyclonic sound, 

Gigantic organ-pipes that rise 

To bear the sound to ether-skies, 

As though they, too, like Handel saw 

Our God enthroned mid choral awe, 

And made both heaven and earth as one, 

By finishing the work begun, 

And bearing back to angel-choirs 

The strains first caught with prophet-fires — 

These trees to-day might well be thrilled, 

Their hallowed green with music filled. 

For they to-day are free to wave 

Their thousand banners o'er the brave. 

And feel their colors free from stains 

Of speculator's rusty chain ! 

F"or know all men from this day hence 

These trees are ours in double sense ; 

These roots sink deej) in Nation's heart — 

The ground and this, not things, apart. 

And yet our Nation's heart was placed 

With things for sale, our land disgraced— 

But why dilate? We meet to-day, 

64 



Our infamy all wiped away, 
Our trees and ground from Mammon wrung— 
The blood-bought hills by patriots sung, 
But only ours by love of late 
Are ours to-day by law of State ! 
"Hallelujah !" 



IV. 

Mount Joy ! Revive thy name to-day ! 

Mean naught, Mount Misery, but play. 

Or hint the plight of wandering Penn, 

Who lost his path to find again 

On height beyond the rugged gorge, 

The future camp of Valley Forge. 

Mount Joy ! Which drank our fathers' blood ! 

Our Calvary whence springs the bud 

Of "Nation's flower" Arbutus-bloom, 

Which grew for Nation's Easter-tomb, 

To bid her cast her fears away. 

To hint her Resurrection Day, 

When sleeping Liberty should rise 

And raise her standard to the skies, 

And stud that standard near and far, 

With blossoms like Arbutus-Star, 

Her passion-flower from holy ground. 

But like the stars in glory found, 

As though the stars of glory knew 

Two firmaments of heavenly blue ; 

As though the patriots' souls might bloom 

Where fell the blood in Nation's tomb, 

And freed from tint of red might rise 

To constellation in the skies ! — 

Mount Joy ! Revive thy name we say ! 

And share it with thy twin to-day! 

As bond of union make the gorge 

And clap your hands, O Valley Forge ! 

The Psalmist's invocation heed. 

Ye billowed hills, like floods indeed ! 

And heed, converging velvet vales, 

These modern bards of Western Wales, 

When Merion the height ascends. 

Then dipping, with Tredyffrin blends! 

O Valley Hills ! Do nations think 

That here doth shine the jewelled link 

65 



In Allegheny's broadened chain 
Which joins the slant-Atlantic's plain 
And makes the thirteen States as one, 
In arch whose Keystone seeks the sun? 
The Laurel is that Keystone's wreath, 
But gathered from Columbian heath — 
From Rhododendron's glossy bay, 
From Kalmia with fadeless spray. 
And twined mid green, to gleam afar 
The Nation's bloom, Arbutus-star? 
Columbia here her garland weaves. 
Her stars and laurels living leaves ! 
"Hallelujah !" 



V. 
The Hallelujah sweeps the hills! 
A thousand hearts feel patriot-thrills. 
As warm the fervor, pure the flame 
As glowed in forge with ancient name. 
Ah! little knew the early smith 
That he would change the Vulcan-myth ; 
His handy hammer help create 
The form of Terra's grandest state, 
His wayside shop determine site 
Of Nation's altar on the height. 
Or give from anvil, bellows, flame. 
The Western World its proudest name ! 

The Chester Valley's glacial lake 
Convulsive moved, its bounds would break. 
And tore the pre-historic gorge — 
Here stood the little wayside forge ! 
As soon as Cambrian fathers led 
Their flocks across the velvet bed 
Which pre-historic lake had left 
When plunging through the narrow cleft 
To flood the later Schuylkill's vale, 
And leave the gorge to tell the tale — 
The smithy rose in woodland dim. 
To ring the chords for forest-hymn, 
With organ grimy, bellows poor, 
But heat and flame intense and pure. 
Such fervor fills your heart and mine — 
'Twas fed with native oak and pine I 
The Valley forge! A simple name! — 



Where Chester Valley's outlet came 

To narrow gorge through northward range, 

Which marked a vast, convulsive change. 

Where flowed the Valley Creek to make 

A path from bed of ancient lake 

To rippled Schuylkill, banked in hills, 

Already tempting Mammon's mills — 

The little smithy stood to sound 

Its hallelujahs round and round ! 

Who then could know the creek would make 

A path for liberty to take? 

Or know the heights above the gap 

Would wear the stars to wreathe her cap ? 

(The cap of Phrygia is ours 

As fitly as TredyfTrin's flowers 

For Cambrian sires who gave this name 

Had sires from Phrygia who came ; 

And Cambrian blood paid off the score. 

Which Saxon piled long years before. 

Our many heroes rightly claimed 

A strain of Welsh, so justly famed 

As fighting-fire from Trojan fount, 

First kindled from Olympian mount, 

Saturnus, Jupiter, were sires 

Transmitting ancient British fires, 

Dardanus and /Eneus knew 

Our Pennsylvania's current blue, 

And Brutus brought his blood and name 

To give the Cambrian sires we claim — 

And this our Western bards maintain 

Is pedigree of Chester's Wayne!) 

And who could know that hut of flame 

Would give the camp its proper name? 

As well the faithful might expect 

The "Place of Skull," as one elect 

To give its name to altar reared, 

By all the future world revered ; 

O name transfigured — Calvary ! 
The Church its triumph hails in thee, — 
Our Nation claims its deathless right 
Through "place of hoof" transferred to height! 
O Valley Forge! O ringing name! 
The "Forge" suggests the deathless flame. 
The growing mass, the hammer strong, 
The sound of music, metal's song, 

67 



By which our Nation rose to shine — 
The Vulcan-Maker all divine! 
Oh, .^tna in the Valley Hill ! 
Thy wondrous fire is bursting still; 
How trembled earth at Crater's glow, 
In first eruption years ago! 
O Valley Forge! Vv^hat chains were wrought, 
And over ocean boastful brought! 
But we had fires and hammers, too — 
Our vulcans struck and shackles flew ! 
Our furnaces and spirits glowed — 
Our little smithies by the road 
Were ready kitchens fit to bake 
For coming guests our guns as cake ! 
And kitchens turned to smithies, too ; 
Our mothers left the trades they knew; 
To feed the guns our fathers bore 
Our mothers robbed their leaden store 
Of spoons and plates that came from Wales- 
Though slighted oft in epic tales, 
These mothers left their mush and bread 
And moulded bullets from the lead 
And sent that lead its work to do — 
Then gave the bread to soldiers, too! 
The kitchen-smithy's double trade 
In bread and lead our glories made : 
It chimed with smithy by the road, 
In burning, fierce, volcanic ode — 
A little ^l^tna every hill — 
That ^Etna-flame is burning still! 
"Hallelujah!!" 



VI. 

If JEina flame had died away. 
We had not sought Mt. Joy to-day 
Nor seen our flag's beloved bars 
And blossoms like Arbutus-stars! 
Nor kept the day as first to mark 
Our holy hill for people's park! 
For know all men, who e'er they be 
Our Nation's Calvary is free! 
The words but ours by love of late 
Are ours to-day by law of State ! — 
"Hallelujah ! !" 

68 



VII. 
If ^tna flame a year were dead, 
Our Legislature had not said 
That heights once streaked with fathers' gore 
Should sacred stand forevermore; 
No speculator's axe should fell 
A tree to rear a smart hotel ; 
No greedy spade should turn the soil 
For building lots, to cut and spoil ! — 
For once hath Shoddy met his check; 
His patchwork-palace falls a wreck ! 
And Anglomania must creep 
And hide within the motley heap ! 
Alas ! I low late our hearts were pained ! — 
Our kin denied what sires had gained, 
And held their birthright's price too low, 
And cringed to sons of ancient foe, 
And begged them send their old St. George 
To quench the fires of Valley Forge ! 
But now those fires blaze forth anew — 
Our foolish kin must feel them, too ! 
"For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!!" 

VIIL 
Ye patient Sons ! No words could add 
To heart-felt joy which makes you glad, 
The lively sense of duty done 
Is laurel crown for Patriot Son ; 
Where'er a tree doth rear its bole 
You see a Freedom-rising pole ; 
Where'er its trunk is stripped and bare, 
You see or place a banner there ; 
Where'er our children congregate. 
You wave aloft the flowers of State ; 
And thus where'er the flag is found 
As Valley Forge becomes the ground, 
So altars rise, as Calvary made. 
Where'er a Cross appears displayed ! 
Ye royal priesthood ! Take your stand 
To send the flag throughout the land, 
That every heart may feel the flame 
Inspired by Valley Forge's name ! 
Its Gospel preach, its doctrines spread 
In angel's white, in martyr's red, 



In blue Celestial, starred with bloom, 
That sprung from Nation's Easter-tomb ! 

Our priestesses! Shall we ignore 
Your work accomplished, years before 
Our Legislators joined to save 
The Calvary of Nation's brave? 
Though hills but ours by love of late 
Are ours to-day by law of State, 
Not so with our Gethsemane — 
For, years ago, you made it free ; 
A little garden near the base 
Of famed Mount Joy, our crosses* place — 
There Liberty her anguish knew 
Before her triumph rose to view ! 
O Maries sweet ! That garden's bound 
Your love hath fenced and wreathed around. 
That all the world may come and see 
Our Western land's Gethsemane ! 
Your mother Nature first had bound 
The spot with blue-veined hills around ; 
Prophetic hid within the blue 
The five-point stars our grandsires knew, 
When on that nameless Easter-day 
Arbutus rose to mark the way 
From Liberty's Gethsemane 
To triumph over Calvary ! 
"For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! !" 

IX. 

From woods of June the chorus swells ! 

Each note of thrill ecstatic tells, 

For every priestly pulse doth beat 

With patriotic fervor-heat. 

As warm the fervors, pure the flame 

As glowed in forge of ancient name ! 

No ancient temple ever knew 

A fire so fierce as thence ye drew; 

Our grandsires' temple in the gorge, 

O priesthood high of Valley Forge ! 

"The kingdom of this world 
Is become the kingdom of our Lord !" 
"And He shall reign forever and ever ! !" 
"Hallelujah ! ! !" 



70 



Miss Harvey s xV^ork. 

Merion Chapter, D. A. R., furnished the "round window" room in 
Washington's headquarters. Valley Forge. (The Valley Forge Chapter 
and the Chester County Chapter also furnished rooms in that historic 
house.) Merion Chapter published a Catalogue of Historic Articles 
AND Relics in the room furnished by that chapter. This Catalogue 
(which appears at the back of this volume) was prepared by Miss 
Harvey. 

Merion Chapter, D. A. R., started the work of locating Revolu- 
tionary Soldiers' Graves in the spring of 1896. The general public can 
have no conception of the vast amount of difficulties encountered. All 
of the old burying grounds in Lower Merion were visited and the moss- 
grown, antiquated tombstones carefully examined. In some cases the 
nearly effaced inscriptions had to be scratched with sticks, or rubbed 
with paper, before they could be deciphered. Wherever a man's name 
could be found, with dates showing that he lived during the Revolu- 
tionary period, or was of a proper age to have served during the Revo- 
lutionary War, that name and those dates were faithfully copied. 

Next came the work of consulting old burial records ; but. unfor- 
tunately, these were few. After laborious research, very little in addi- 
tion was gleaned to what had already been gathered from the tomb- 
stones. 

Now came the tremendous task of deciding how many of these men 
whose names had been gathered, actually did serve in the Revolutionary 
War. Their names might be in the Pennsylvania Archives, but these 
records were themselves incomplete. Still, with all difficulties, upward 
of 200 graves were located in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery 
County. Pennsylvania, and the surrounding townships of Roxborough 
and Blockley, in Philadelphia County ; Haverford and Radnor, in Dela- 
ware County, and Upper Merion and White Marsh, in Montgomery 
County. 

The Regent of Merion Chapter (the writer hereof) published the 
names of these soldiers in 1906, together with the Lists of Taxable and 
Revolutionary Muster Rolls. The greater part of the arduous labor of 
identifying Revolutionary soldiers' graves was inaugurated and carried 
out by Aliss Harvey, who had been the Historian of the Chapter since 
its organization in 1895. Many days, accompanied by one of her sisters 
(Mrs. Develin. Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Whilldin, or Mrs. Swope), she would 
start out early in the morning, carrying luncheon, and spend the entire 
day searching in the old graveyards throughout the country. She loved 
the work, and if only one name had been verified her day of toil was 
counted one of pleasure. 

Miss Harvey was a member of the Pocohontas Memorial Associa- 
tion ; of the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association, and of 
the Montgomery County Historical Society. 

71 



Miss Harvey s Illness and Deatn. 



On January 10th, 1912, Miss Harvey's brother, Edward Church Har- 
vey, died, after a few days' illness. This was a great shock to the entire 
family, as he was the first of the ten brothers and sisters to be called 
away. Miss Harvey was particularly fond of this brother, as there were 
only two years' difference in their ages, and they had grown up together 
as good chums. She grieved for him constantly. This caused her to 
fall ill (the first illness of her life). She was confined to her room for 
six months, and entered into Eternal Life on Friday evening, October 
4th, at 7.30. She was conscious to the end. She spoke to us, closed her 
eyes, sighed, and was gone ! She passed away so peacefully that it 
seemed to rob Death of all terror. 

Miss Harvey's funeral was held at her residence, 5236 Parkside Ave- 
nue, West Park, Philadelphia, on Monday afternoon, October 7th, at 
2.30. Services were conducted by Rev. Plenry A. F. Hoyt, D.D.. Rector 
of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, Cynwyd, Lower Merion, 
assisted by Rev. W. H. Cavanagh, Rector of St. James' Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, Hestonville. Interment was in the family plot (next her 
brother) in West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Her four remaining brothers, 
James B., Dr. Charles H., Walter P., and Richard Jones Harvey, acted 
as pall bearers. Her mother, Mrs. Julia Payne Harvey, and four sisters, 
Dora Harvey Develin, Gertrude Harvey Hughes, Beulah Harvey Whill- 
din, and Julia Harvey Swope, also survive her. 

Merion Chapter, D. A. R., attended the funeral in a body. The 
floral tributes were rare and beautiful. A great sheaf of white roses tied 
with the ribbon of the National Society, D. A. R., came from her 
Chapter. 

Letters of sympathy from all parts of the country were received by 
the family — from those in high official positions in the aftairs of the 
Government; from noted Historians and Genealogists (who knew and 
appreciated Miss Harvey's great work) ; from National Officers of the 
D. A. R. ; from D. A. R. members wherever a chapter existed ; from the 
Pennsylvania Women's Press Association ; from the League of American 
Pen Women, and from her warm personal friends, who were legion. A 
f evv are given below : 

Mrs. Donald McLean, Hon. President General N. S., D. A. R., 
wrote : 

72 



"It needs no iteration from me to emphasize the invaluable and 
unique work accomplished by your sister in her undertakings for our 
National Society, D. A. R. ; yet I desire to add my encomiums, as her 
fellow-member and as her Past President General, to those lavished upon 
her in constant and uplifting memory." 

Mrs. Henry Harrison Cummings, Pennsylvania State Regent, wrote : 

"Oh ! how we will miss her ! She was such a bright, charming 
woman, always thinking of doing something for others. Words will not 
adequately express my sorrow and sympathy for you at this time of grief. 
We will miss her in our D. A. R. meetings ; they will never be the same 
again." 

Miss Mary I. Stille, Pennsylvania State Historian, said : 

"You are not the only losers, for she was valuable to many others, 
and chiefly to the D. A. R., whom she served faithfully and well." 

At a meeting of Merion Chapter the following letter was written 
and sent to Miss Harvey's family: 

MERION CHAPTER, D. A. R, 

IN MEMORIAM. 

It is fitting we should honor the memory of one whose name will 
live in this Society when we have all joined the Great Majority. 

Miss Margaret B. Harvey, Organizer and Historian of Merion 
Chapter, passed to her true reward October 4th, 1912. 

She endeared herself to her fellow members for her keen, logical 
mind, her untiring devotion to the cause, and for her zealous and effi- 
cient work for the good of the entire order. She will be sadly missed. 

(Signed) Elizabeth Jane Barnes,* 
Elizabeth W. De Armond, 
Laura K. Harding, 
M. Wynne Maxwell, 
Florence H. Jones, 
Virginia Marshall, 
Mary E. Harding, 
Ellen J. Heston, 
Gertrude H. W. Buek, 
Matilda H. Hoot, 
Nellie H. Boyd. 

On November 12, 13 and 14, 1912, the Pennsylvania D. A. R. held 
the State Conference at Harrisburg. The following letter was written 
to the Regent of Merion Chapter by the State Secretary: 



*Miss Barnes, First Vice-Regent Merion Chapter, died March 7, 1913, after 
two weeks' illness. 

73 



My Dear Mrs. Develin. 

At a meeting of the Pennsylvania Conference in Harrisburg, on 
Wednesday, November 13th, memorial exercises were held in loving 
remembrance of the members who have left us for the higher life during 
the year. 

An especial tribute was paid to your sister. Miss Harvey, and the 
secretary was instructed to convey to you the sympathy of the Conference 
in the great loss sustained by you and your sisters, a loss which is sus- 
tained by all the Daughters. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) Emma L. Crowell, 
Pennsylvania Secretary, D. A. R. 

Miss Mary I. Stille, State Historian, D. A. R., read the following 
tribute at the Pennsylvania State Conference, Wednesday, November 
13th, 1912: 

"Merion Chapter has suffered an irreparable loss in the death of its 
brilliant talented Historian, Miss Margaret B. Harvey. Miss Harvey 
entered into Eternal Life on Friday evening, October 4th, 1912, about 
7.30. Her passing was so peaceful that she seemed to fall asleep natu- 
rally. 

Miss Harvey was born in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery 
County, Pa., just outside the city limits of Philadelphia, in the "Welsh 
Tract." Her father was James B. Harvey, a Friend, who was a member 
of the Montgomery County Historical Society, and a recognized authority 
on local history. Her first American ancestors came over on the ship 
"Lyon," which landed at Pencoyd, August 14th. 1682, two months before 
William Penn landed. 

Miss Harvey was a Charter Member and Historian of Merion Chap- 
ter, D. A. R. She was educated at the Girls' Normal School and the 
Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, and the L^nivcrsity of California. 
The degree of A.M. was conferred upon her by Dickinson College, June, 
1900. She was a writer of both verse and prose, an artist, a botanist 
and linguist of ability, being mistress of five dilTerent languages. She 
was the author of "Lower IMerion Lillies," "The Flora of Lower Merion," 
and "The Botany of the Eastern States." In 1895 when the Lower 
Merion Friends' Meeting House held its Bi-Centennial, Miss Harvey 
wrote an Ode for the occasion. It was published in the Bryn Maivr 
News and widely quoted and copied at the time. She also wrote "Valley 
Forge Arbutus," the original National Mower Poem. 

On June 19th, 1903, a grand celebration was held at Valley Forge to 
mark the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of Washington's 
evacuation of Valley Forge. Noted speakers from all over the country 
participated in this celebration, and Miss Harvey's poem, "Hallelujah," 

74 



Avritten for the occasion, was greeted with great enthusiasm. The corner- 
stone of the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge was laid that 
day, and a copy of Miss Harvey's poem was placed therein. 

Miss Harvey was not merely a local historian, but was known 
throughout the United States. She has not only done much work in 
rescuing old records and writing the histories of old buildings at home, 
but has aided other States in like work. In the Third Smithsonian Re- 
port, N. S., D. A. R., page 235, appears the following: "Miss Margaret 
B. Harvey, Historian of Mcrion Chapter, copied an orderly book and 
several letters, the work of Revolutionary soldiers, and sent them to the 
State Librarian at Harrisburg, to be embodied in the Pennsylvania 
Archives. While working on these Archives she found that a battalion 
of Georgia Continentals, under Col. John White, were encamped near 
Bala, in August, 1777. Step by step she has followed those ragged, foot- 
sore men through musty manuscripts and pages of history wherever she 
could find a trace of them, picking up a name here and there until she 
has gathered two thousand six hundred names. Her vrork in connection 
with the list of Georgia's Revolutionary soldiers is mentioned in the report 
of Georgia (and the list of names copied from sources outside the State's 
Archives forms entire Appendix F of this volume). Such indefatigable 
work, undertaken for the glory of another State, is rare." 

What Miss Harvey did for Georgia was not her only work for 
another State. A somewhat similar work was done for Delaware. She 
copied and verified one thousand two hundred and thirty-three names 
of soldiers, continental and militia, for the first volume of that State's 
Archives. This is said to be the largest and most complete list ever made 
of Delaware's patriots. Miss Harvey's work in this connection appears 
in the Fourth Smithsonian Report, N. S., D. A. R. (page 310). Appen- 
dix E and Appendix F, of this volume, are made up entirely of Miss 
Harvey's historical work. 

Another remarkable work done for the love of the D. A. R. by 
Miss Harvey, was the organizing of the Alaska Chapter at Sitka. She 
searched for and verified the records of thirteen women (names given 
her by Mrs. Pendleton, wife of Capt. Joseph H. Pendleton, who had 
charge of the Marine Barracks there), and a chapter in the far west 
was formed through the untiring work of a "daughter" of Pennsylvania. 
(An account of this work done by Miss Harvey appears in the Fifth 
Smithsonian report, under Alaska, page 266, and the Seventh, pages 
146 and 147.) 

The work done for Merion Chapter in preparing and preserving 
records, in collecting historical relics, etc., is so vast that an account of 
it could not be given in a brief sketch like this. Merion Chapter has 
suffered an unutterable loss in the death of Miss Harvey, and the 
National Society, D. A. R., has lost a loyal, faithful, enthusiastic worker. 

Miss Harvey's last published work was her "History of the 'Real 

75 



/ 



Daughters' of the American Revolution," which appeared in the spring. 
This book contains the names of every "Real Daughter" admitted to the 
National Society up to June, 1911, together with an historical and bio- 
graphical sketch of each, with a short account of their ancestors' services, 
thus making the work not only of value to the D. A. R. of to-day, but 
to the coming generations. 

Miss Harvey had been ill ever since the sudden death of her brother 
in January. (lie was the first of ten, five brothers and five sisters, to 
be taken, and the shock was great to the entire family.) Miss Harvey 
was buried at West Laurel Hill on Monday, October 7th. Merion Chap- 
ter attended in a body. Her four brothers acted as pall-bearers. Her 
four sisters are Charter members of Merion Chapter. Before losing 
consciousness of this world she dictated the genealogy of an applicant to 
the D. A. R." 



Miss Harvey's last published work was The Htstory of the "Real 
Daughters" of the American Revolution. It appeared last spring 
(1912). She read the final proofs while confined to her bed. This book 
contains every "real daughter" admitted to the National Society, D. A. 
R., up to June, 1911, with an historical and biographical sketch of each, 
together with the services of their ancestors, thus making this work of 
great value, not only at the present time, but to future generations. The 
History of the Widener Family was also completed in the spring of 
1912. 



Miss Harvey left two volumes ready for the printer. One is the 
y History of the Harvey Family, giving the records of all the ancient 
branches of that noted family in England and Ireland, and following 
those which came to America. It will appear in the near future. The 
other is Records of Merion Meeting. This is a vast work consisting 
of the labor of many years. It will prove of inestimable value in future 
years, as it contains copies of wills, births, marriages, and of obituaries 
from many of the oldest papers iniblished in Philadelphia and surround- 
ing counties. The records begin with the first burial at Merion Meeting 
— that of a little child, Catharine, daughter of Edward and Mabby Rees, 
October 23, 1682, only tv>^o months after the landing of the ship "Lyon" 
at Pencoyd, down to the present time, with very few gaps unfilled. 



76 



Miss Harvey was also engaged in writing an Epic (or Heroic) 
poem, entitled Brennus. Brennus, we remember, was a general of the 
Galli Senones, who entered Italy, defeated the Romans, and marched 
into the city. The Romans fled into the Capitol, and left the city in pos- 
session of the enemy. The Gauls climbed the Tarpeian rock in the night 
and would have taken the Capitol had not the Romans been awakened 
by the cackling of some geese. Thus aroused, they repelled the enemy. 

Just how Miss Harvey intended to develop the poem I cannot say, 
but what she had written is so grand and heroic and shows an exact 
knowledge of the costumes, customs, and history of the times and peo- 
ples her lines celebrate that I feel it should be embodied in this Memoir. 
It begins as follows : 



•rennUvS. 



Scene, Northern Italy. 



Chorus of Gauls. 
Rushing like wind through the pines in commotion. 

Sounding like locusts intent to devour, 
Roaring like cataract louder than ocean, 

Sweeping like floods over plain in their power, 
Comes the vast horde, with a hurtling like thunder, 

Just as our fathers from Asia came forth, 
Down VvC are pouring with Legion.s of Wonder, 

(Down they are pouring — this horde from the North!) 

Se>[i-Ciiorus of Bards. 
Waken, O harp with your ripple like water! 

Waken, O string, with your twang like a bow ! 
Waken, O Song, that is Glory's own daughter, 

Waken and sing with hearts all aglow ! 
Sing of our Chief and the blood that he beareth. 

Borne from the Aryan fountain of old, 
Sing of the leek in the wreath that he weareth, 

Sing of the Sword he is worthy to hold ! 

Semi-Chorus of Druids. 
Sing of the Circle that curveth forever! 

Round that hath neither beginning nor end ! 
Sing of the Stones that shall crumble, no never — 

Ring that is built in perpetual bend! 

77 



Sing of the Mistletoe, sprite of woods, vernal ! 

Sing of the sickle that cleaveth the oak ! 
(Sing of the vSun that shincth eternal!) 

Bowed down before it, and dreaded its stroke! 

Chief Herald. 
Hear ye, O hear ye, O Kelts without number! 
Surely, the avalanche wakes from its slumber ! 
High on the mountain the torrent impendeth ! 
Down to the valley destruction descendeth ! 

Semi-Chorus of Heralds. 
Hear ye, O hear ye, O Gauls never ending! 
Hear ye Losthones, with Cymry descending! 
Hear ye, Hibernians and Britons all blending. 
Hear ye, O Belgae who southward are bending ! 

Brennus. 
Woe to the vanquished ! My sword bringeth sorrow ! 

Woe to the \'anquished my sword worketh death. 
Men of the Valleys take heed lest to-morrow. 

Smoke be ascending to stifie your breath ! 

Seer. 
Brennus, O chieftain, have mercy, have pity ! 

Think of the children, like clusters untorn ! 
Sack if you will, gather gold from the City ! 

Leave for the infant the vine and the corn! 

Brennus. 
Father of Druids ! Your heart is my brother ! 

Let the young corn in its growing wave free I 
Sword worketh woe to the warrior, none other! 

Never a child shall die famished through me ! 

Semi-Chorus of Druids. 
God of the Seasons ! give fruit in abundance ! 

God of plantation, bless orchards and vines! 
Fill up the wicker, the horn of redundance 

Brighten the sickle like crescent to shine. 
Feed not alone every armored invader — 

Feed every babe though its roof be laid low ; 
Feed every matron, posterity's aider. 

Feed every maiden, and shield her from foe ! 

78 



Semi-Chorus of Bards. 
Down to posterity carry the story — 

Brennus hath spared all the fruit for the foe ! 
Olive and laurel shall spring for his glory, 

Here with the vine and the corn they shall grow ! 

Chorus of Gauls. 
Wave over wave, like the billows of ocean. 

Surge upon surge, like the breakers on shore ! 
Mighty as waterspouts, hurled in commotion, 

Dread as cyclone in its crashing and roar, 
Searing as lightening with bladed destruction 
(This was unfinished.) 

Then came the following fragments and notes written on the margin 
of her note-book : 

Ripple on ripple of locks like Genista, 

Wavelet on wavelet of beards like the bloom, 
All in one flame like the dancing arista, 

Crowning its grain in its ripen of bloom. 
Helmets of iron, like foam on the billows, 

Cap all the breakers with sheen as of glass, 
Necklets of gold, in their twisting like willows, 

Heighten the light in the quivering mass. 
Mantles of scarlet, like painting of poppy, 

Streaked through the corn in its ebb and its flow ; • 
Girdles of gold, of the necklets a copy. 

Edge the vermilion like 

Scribes. 
Glowing as wheat in the fervor of Juneday, 

Spread o'er the plain like a lake full of fire. 
Flashing in sunlight poured down in the noonday, 

(Here she lay down the pen, and the lines were never finished; 
but what she had written presents a vivid picture to the eye.) 

These fragments were followed by such entries as — 

Gallic torques — Pendants of amber and coral. 

Flasheth the sun on each necklace all golden. 

Lightens each plaid with its crimson and green. 

Brightens each helmet. 

Showeth the sword belt with knots. 

The long bronze horn with its curve like a shell. 

Helmet of iron, 2-horned and surmounted. 

Crestwise with circle, like course of the sun. 

79 



Boar borne aloft on a pole as a standard. 

Belt-chain — sword-hilt. 

Such are the corals with seaweeds commingled. 

Trews of tartan all crimson and yellow. 

Show how the petals fall down with the straw. 

(Reading these lines, anyone with an imagination can easily see how 
Miss Harvey intended to picture the army marching down to Rome.) 

Once, in describing some old books with "dog-eared" leaves, Miss 
Harvey wrote : 

"But, oh! these had been tenderly touched by long dead hands! 
These had been carefully read by long-closed eyes ! And wonder of won- 
ders! Here, in the fly-leaves, were the autographs of persons whose 
very existence was well-nigh forgotten, the penmanship looking just as 
it looked to the writers, except that to-day the ink is browner. A man's 
book is his treasure. And a man's signature is his spirit, his personality, 
far more than is his portrait." 

And now, as I turn the pages of her manuscripts, her words rush 
through my memory, bringing blinding tears to my eyes. Her spirit 
seems to dwell on every page! 

In a brief sketch of this nature it would be impossible to include 
more than an outline of the work done by Miss Harvey. Each month 
during all the years she was Historian of the D. A. R. she prepared and 
read an historic paper for the Chapter; she verified records everywhere 
for everybody. She wrote constantly for the newspapers and maga- 
zines, and painted pictures both in water colors and oils, which will be a 
lasting monument to her memory. Besides doing all these things she 
helped the poor and needy. She was a member of the Needlework 
Guild of America for many years, and contributed annually garments 
and money to that organization. She was never idle. "Jn labor she 
found rest." Miss Harvey was the personification of loyalty to her 
friends. She had the courage of her convictions. H she felt she was 
right, she would bravely stand for the right, even though she stood alone. 

" 'Earth to earth, and dust to dust,' 

Calmly now the words we say, 
Left behind we wait in trust 

For the resurrection-day. 
I^^ather, in Thy gracious keeping 

Leave we now Thy servant sleeping." 

This little volume was prepared, with reverence, as a token of love 
for one of the purest, noblest, sweetest of women, by her devoted sister. 

Dora Harvey Develin. 

80 



CATALOGUE 



OF 



Historic Articles and Relics 




IN THE ROOM FURNISHED BY 



MERION CHAPTER 

Daugkters of tke American Revolution R 



^r\-v 



WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS 
VALLEY FORGE, PA. 



PUBLISHED BY 

MERION CHAPTER 
1907 



PRICE, TEN CENTS 




Lower Merion Friends' Meeting House. 

The oldest church edifice in Pennsylvauia, built iu 1695 (on the 

site of a still older log meeting house built in 16S3). 

(Photographed by Dora Harvey Develiu.) 






















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T. Be van. 



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n faiTx'ilies. 



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FIRST 

WELSH 

SETTLEMENliS. 

from 



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DrSLWti by MAJ'g'aret B. 'Ha.ryey, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, have fur- 
nished a room in Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge. This room 
is in the third story, in the gable-end facing the Valley Hills. The "round 
window," seen in so many pictures of the old stone mansion, is in this 
room. 

Quite appropriate it is to have a round window in a Colonial house 
in which three Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution 
have furnished chambers — for the spinning-wheel is the emblem of the 
National Society, D. A. R., the spinning-wheel worn as a memorial of 
our heroic Revolutionary foremothers. And the round window is exactly 
the shape of a spinning-wheel. 

True, the spinning-wheel, as seen in the Daughters' Insignia, has 
thirteen spokes to represent the Thirteen Original States. But there was 
no fixed number in the real old-time wheels. In Washington's Headquar- 
ters in Valley Forge to-day there is a dark, antiquated spinning-wheel 
having eight spokes — and the round window-wheel has eight spokes. 

The round window in the gable-end was a feature of numerous 
Colonial stone mansions in Pennsylvania, although in all probability very 
few of the Colonial Dames who wielded the distaflF and wheel considered 
it at all symbolic. But it was, as it is to-day. From early ages the wheel 
and distaff were part of the belongings of a princess and heiress. And 
from the distaff was derived the shape of the lozenge, upon which a maid 
or widow of independent property blazoned her coat-of-arms, as her 
father or other male relative would use the masculine shield. To-day 
the Daughter of the American Revolution adds the distaff to the spinning- 
wheel to emphasize the value of her patriotic inheritance from her heroic 
forefathers and foremothers. 

It is well known that the patient, self-sacrificing women of the Revo- 
lutionary days clothed the army in the field and the children and the aged 
at home without calling in the aid of any foreign power. And it is a 
tradition, in all the townships in a circuit of many miles around the 
Valley Forge camp-ground, that every loyal woman and girl able to 
lend a hand did her full share towards feeding as well as clothing the 
patriots there encamped, in the dread winter of 1777-78. 

Of course we all know that the round window, as seen in the old 
Pennsylvania houses, was not expressly designed to commemorate the 
virtues or the work of the Colonial Dame, but was derived from the 



"Katharine-wheel" of medieval architecture. But it is interesting to 
note just here that this drives us back to St. Katharine of Alexandria, 
who suffered martyrdom by the wheel, and who is the patron saint of 
needlewomen. 

It is impossible to think of Valley Forge without thinking of mar- 
tyrdom — of women as well as of men! 



In our present state of knowledge it is impossible for us to say with 
certainty who occupied the "round window room " while George and 
Martha Washington were living in the Potts Mansion, since known as 
"Washington's Headquarters." Tradition says that General Washing- 
ton himself used it at times as an observatory, and looked out through 
the window on the artillery practice in the grounds below. 

The Potts Mansion faces Valley Creek, which forms the boundary 
between Montgomery County and Chester County. The house, with the 
greater part of the camp-ground, is in Upper Merion Township, Mont- 
gomery County. Only a small part of the old encampment extended into 
Chester County. Just across the Valley Creek were the Artificers, in what 
was then Charlestown Township, now Schuylkill, the lower part of old 
Charlestown having been cut off since the Revolution. And over the line 
of the North Valley Hill the border of the encampment reached into Tre- 
dyffrin Township, Chester County. Upper Merion Township, now in 
Montgomery, was then in Philadelphia County, Montgomery County not 
being erected until 1784. ^ 

The wooded height visible through the round window — or visible 
looking up the creek from the road in front of Washington's Headquar- 
ters — is Mount Joy. Across the creek, opposite on the right hand side, 
is Mount Misery. This is the story told concerning the origin of these 
two names : William Penn, with several companions, was wandering 
through the woods on the crest of the North Valley Hill. They lost their 
way, and for a number of hours were unable to extricate themselves. At 
length they descended a precipitous bank to a stream, forded it and ascended 
the height on the other side. From the summit they could see the Schuyl- 
kill, and then they knew where they were. Penn immediately named 
the eminence where they stood "Mount Joy," and the one they had just 
left, "Mount Misery." 

Now, whether he felt any prophetic instinct or not none of us can 
tell — but it is certainly true that the greater part of Washington's army, 
which endured such untold misery in the winter of 1777-8, did encamp on 
the Mount Joy side of Valley Creek, while only a small portion encamped 
on the Mount Misery side. Yet the outcome was joy and not misery, for 
subsequent events have proved that the sufferings of that heroic army were 
blessings in disguise. 



ITrom «, 

Scull ^ Hcaps^ 
MAP. 

1750. 



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Washington's Headuuarters, Vai,i,ey Forge. 

(Photographed by Dora Harvey Develin.) 



The name "Mount Joy" appears on Holme's Map of 1681. It is in 
"Laetitia Penn's Manor of Mount Joy," the first draft that we have of 
what afterwards became the Valley Forge camp-ground. Laetitia was 
William Penn's daughter, Mrs. Aubrey. The draft of her manor is also 
the first that we have of this portion of Upper Merion. More of Upper 
Merion appears in the adjoining manor of her brother, William Penn, Jr. 

"Welch Tract," as shown on Holme's map, includes Tredyfifrin town- 
ship, in the Great Valley, now called the Chester Valley. Southeastward 
are the other Welsh townships of Radnor and Haverford. Lower Merion 
township comprises the area between Radnor and Haverford on the 
westward and the Schuylkill river on the eastward. Holme's map was 
dated 1681, but not finished till 1683. 

The "Liberty Lands" included old Blockley township, Philadelphia 
County, now a part of the built-up portion of West Philadelphia. Below 
the Liberty Lands was the marshy township of Kingsessing, settled by 
Swedes. 

This map is particularly valuable as showing the early Welsh settle- 
ments, as well as the location of the Valley Forge camp-ground. Some 
of the most important events of the Revolutionary war took place within 
the region here represented. 

Scull and Heap's map of 1750 shows a goodly portion of Lower 
Merion and Blockley, with the old roads and the houses of the principal 
landholders at that period. In the northeastern corner of the map, about 
the Wissahickon Creek, is a section of old Roxborough township, Phila- 
delphia County, afterwards a part of the battle-ground of Germantown. 
Directly east of the Schuylkill were the "Northern Liberties." North 
of the centre is marked "Merrion Meeting," which was built in 1695, and is 
still standing, the oldest church edifice in the State of Pennsylvania. 

Reed's map was published in 1774, but it really belongs to a much 
earlier period, as it accompanied his list of "First Purchasers." The 
greater part of the map here shown represents Blockley, bounded on the 
northwest by Lower Merion, on the northeast and east by the Schuylkill 
river, which separates it from Roxborough township, the Northern Lib- 
erties and the City of Philadelphia; south by old Kingsessing township 
(in which is Gray's Ferry) ; on the west and southwest by Mill Creek 
(also called Cobb's Creek), which separates it from Darby township, 
Chester County (now in Delaware County) . This map shows the first roads 
and names of residents living about 1700 and a little later. Among these 
appear the names of some of the original Swedish land-holders, as well as 
the Welsh and English. 

Faden's map of 1777 is founded on the survey of Scull and Heap. 
In addition to Scull and Heap's names it gives "Gov. Penn," then living 
at Lansdowne, in what is now West Fairmount Park. Also, the "Schuyl- 
kill Company," the "State in Schuylkill" fishing: club, which became a 



patriotic organization wielding a powerful influence in behalf of American 
independence. This map was published the same year that General 
Washington's army marched through Lower and Upper Merion to Valley 
Forge. 

These four maps give us a fairly complete representation of the whole 
region west of the Schuylkill, from its mouth to Valley Forge, and for a 
period beginning with the survey ordered by William Penn in 1681 and 
ending with the year when the patriot army encamped on Mount Joy 

(1777)- 

Merion Chapter is composed of members whose Colonial and Revolu- 
tionary forefathers and foremothers lived within the region here depicted. 
And nearly every article placed within the round window room as a memo- 
rial came from this region. 

Upper and Lower Merion, part of the old "Welsh Barony," were 
named after Merionethshire, in North Wales, which shire was itself named 
after the ancient Welsh king, Merion, or Meriawn, from whom all the 
early pioneers in the Pennsylvania Welsh Tract claimed descent. And the 
descendants of these old Kelts bore bravely their share in winning Ameri- 
can independence. 

In the old General Wayne Tavern, under the shadow of Merion Meet- 
ing and in sight of the green turf covering the graves of their Cymric 
sires of 200 years ago, Merion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution, organized for the express purpose of perpetuating the memory of 
those who, in Upper and Lower Merion, achieved American independence. 

Furnishing a room, as a memorial to patriotic forefathers and fore- 
mothers, in Washington's Headquarters, Upper Merion, on the very 
ground which was the arena of our nation's life-and-death struggle, and 
which witnessed the triumphant outcome thereof;, was most appropriate 
work for this Chapter. 

Formal permission to inaugurate the work was granted to Merion 
Chapter by the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association at the 
annual meeting held in Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge, on June 
19, 1903. The Regent of the Association was Mrs. Rebecca Mclnnes, of 
Norristown, Pa. Work was delayed on account of difficulties involved in 
the question as to whether the Centennial and Memorial Association 
should continue ownership of the Headquarters, or whether the property 
should be acquired by the State of Pennsylvania. For Merion Chapter 
the solution of all problems came when, in the spring of 1906, the 
Commissioners of Valley Forge Park also granted this Chapter permission 
to furnish the memorial room in Washington's Headquarters, Valley 
Forge. 

These were the rules which the Chapter laid down for itself to follow : 
The room must be furnished in strict Colonial style. Every piece of fur- 
niture or bric-a-brac must be authentic, a genuine relic of the Colonial 




Urawn by Marg'iiret B.Harvey 



and Revolutionary period, with a known history. Every article must be 
in good condition. 

It has been the aim of the Chapter to make the room appear habita- 
ble, as though a visitor on ascending the stairway and looking through 
the screen-door might feel that he or she had actually gazed backward 
through more than a century and seen the real chamber of a Colonial 
Dame. And Chapter members flatter themselves that they have succeeded 
— they have seen numerous visitors turn away hastily, fearing that they 
had intruded upon a private room. 

The Chapter has tried to avoid the appearance of a museum or junk- 
shop. And yet, for purposes of future identification, every article is 
labeled on the under side or somewhere out of sight. This catalogue is 
planned as an aid to the inquirer, as it gives a brief history of every 
article, with name of donor and family from which it came. Every 
article is so placed that it can be readily seen from the door. 

In bringing the work to a successful end, every member of Merion 
Chapter did her individual part, contributing articles, money, or both. 
The pieces of furniture, bric-a-brac and relics came from the members' 
own families and friends, and no outside aid was asked or desired. Merion 
Chapter considers everything contributed as a free gift to the Headquarters 
and the visiting public. 

The members of Valley Forge Park Commission (as found in 
Smull's Legislative Handbook for 1904) are : President, John W. Wood- 
side, Philadelphia; Vice-President, W. H. Sayen, Philadelphia; Secretary, 
A. H. Bowen, Philadelphia; Treasurer, Edward A. Price, Media; Henry 
A. Muhlenberg, Reading ; Samuel S. Hartranft, Lebanon ; J. P. Hale Jen- 
kins, Norristown ; Martin G. Brumbaugh, Philadelphia; John P. Nichol- 
son, Philadelphia; George H. Colket, Philadelphia. 

Valley Forge Chapter and Chester County Chapter, Daughters of 
the American Revolution, furnished rooms in Washington's Headquarters 
before Merion Chapter undertook the work. The commodious chamber 
on the second floor, at the head of the stairs, was the one occupied by 
George and Martha Washington, and this is the one restored to the style of 
Revolutionary days by Valley Forge Chapter. The front room adjoining 
is the one furnished by Chester County Chapter. 

The officers of Valley Forge Chapter are ( 1904) : 

Regent, Mrs. Hugh Mclnnes (Rebecca Ovenshine) ; Vice-Regent, 
Mrs. P. Y. Eisenberg (Harriet Dawes) ; Recording Secretary, Miss Leila 
Jenkins ; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Mary T. Mclnnes ; Treasurer, 
Mrs. Frances B. Brown ; Registrar, Mrs. Emma P. Naile ; Historian, 
Mrs. Mary D. Smythe; Chaplain, Mrs. Joseph Fornance (Ellen Knox). 

Past Regents, Mrs. Anna Morris Holstein, Mrs. Margaret Schall 
Hunsicker. 



The officers of Chester County Chapter are (1904) : 
Regent, Mrs. Abner Hoopes (MaUnda Marshall) ; Vice-Regent, 
Mrs. Henry C. Pennypacker (Clara Karnes) ; Recording Secretary, Miss 
Genevieve S. Zane ; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Sophia D. K. Stubbs ; 
Treasurer, Mrs. Rachel H. Hayes; Registrar, Miss Elizabeth P. Mar- 
shall; Historian, Miss Mary I. Stille. 

The present officers of Merion Chapter are : Regent, Mrs. Dora Har- 
vey Develin ; Vice-Regents, Mrs. Florence Heston Jones, Miss Mary Ella 
Harding, Mrs. Laura Kershaw Harding; Treasurer, Miss Ellen Jones 
Heston; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Gertrude Harvey Hughes; Re- 
cording Secretary, Mrs. Beulah Harvey Whilldin; Registrar, Mrs. Caro- 
line Roland Rowbotham ; Historian, Miss Margaret Boyle Harvey ; Board 
of Management, Mrs. Elizabeth Keyser De Armond, Miss Virginia Mar- 
shall, Miss Henrietta C. K. Yundt, Mrs. Anna Fulmer Shaw and Mrs. 
Matilda Heston Hoot. 

MARGARET B. HARVEY, 

Historian. 




Ft 



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17 7 7- 







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'Map Dp 

Me r ion an3 



■Dra-wn by Marg^arat B. H arvey. 



Catalogue of Articles Placed ty Merion 

Chapter in tke Round W^mdow 

Room at Valley Forge. 

Antique oaken bedstead, very small and low, about the size of what, 
to-day, would be called a cot-bed. Quite picturesque, with its little round- 
headed posts. This bedstead was once the property of Charles Thomson, 
Secretary of Continental Congress. Secretary Thomson had, in 1765, 
signed the Non-Importation Act. He resided in Lower Merion township, 
in the original Bryn Mawr mansion built by Rowland Ellis in 1701, and 
later called "Harriton." The bedstead was presented by Mr. David Kinzie, 
of Radnor, Pa., to the Valley Forge Centennial and Memorial Association, 
and by the Association loaned to Merion Chapter. 

Linen sheet, 150 years old, once belonging to Mrs. Thomas Finley, 
of Elk township, Chester County. In the sheet, of hand-woven linen, are 
embroidered in pink silk cross-stitch the letters T. R. F. for Thomas and 
Rebecca Finley. Thomas Finley was a soldier in the Chester County 
militia. Quilt, 150 years old, of dark blue and red "stufif," elaborately 
quilted by hand. The red stripe was Rebecca Finley's wedding petticoat, 
and has the two pocket-holes left in. The quilt and sheet were inherited 
by Mrs. Emma Louisa Perry Nock, great-granddaughter of Thomas and 
Rebecca Finley. Mrs. Nock, now deceased, was a charter member of 
Merion Chapter. Mr. Elbridge E. Nock presented the quilt and sheet to 
Merion Chapter in memory of his deceased wife (who was also descended 
from James Perry, of the Chester County Militia.) 

Linen sheet, very old, made by Ellin Jones, of Lower Merion, and em- 
broidered with the initials E. I., in black cross-stitch. Linen sheet, made 
by her sister, Phebe Jones Hoffmann. From the second sheet was obtained 
sufficient material for a pillow-case, bolster-case, bureau-cover, washstand- 
cover, two towels and nine small napkins. Blue and white plate, old 
Canton china. These articles were presented by the Misses Matilda and 
Louisa Hoffmann, of West Philadelphia, granddaughters of Phebe Jones 
Hoffmann. 

Knitted lace, more than 100 years old. Presented by Mrs. James B. 
Harvey. There was enough of this to trim the pillow-case, bolster-case, 
bureau-cover and washstand-cover. 

Mahogany bureau, or "chest of drawers," very old, a relic in the 
family of Edward Harvey, Esq., of Lower Merion, Pa. Mahogany tea- 
table, once belonging to Margaret Boyle Harvey, wife of Edward and 
daughter of Captain James Boyle, of the Chester County militia, a resident 
of Charlestown, and Martha Williams, his wife. Martha Williams was 
a young Revolutionary heroine who aided in the work of feeding and 



clothing the patriots at Valley Forge, and who afterwards married her 
teacher, Captain James Boyle. Leather-bound volume, "The Builders' 
Dictionary," printed in London in 1734. Contains the autograph of Rich- 
ard Jones, of Lower Merion, a cousin of Margaret Boyle Harvey. He 
was a prominent member of the Merion Meeting. As a Revolutionary 
patriot he served his country by presenting the Supreme Executive Council 
with a quantity of lumber to build a boat for the armed fleet on the 
Delaware. These articles were presented by Margaret Boyle Harvey, 
Dora Harvey Develin, Gertrude Harvey Hughes, Beulah Harvey Whilldin 
and Julia Harvey Swope (granddaughters of Edward and Margaret 
Boyle Harvey), who also presented a watercolor picture of a ship, painted 
by Captain James Boyle, framed in oak, from a piece of the original floor 
of the Old Eagle Schoolhouse, Tredyfifrin township, Chester County, 
where he was teaching about 1799- 1800. Also a work-bag and chair 
cushion, made of antique flowered and figured chintz, once belonging to 
Margaret Boyle, his daughter. 

Arm chair of heavy oak, more than 200 years old, brought from 
Wales by Dr. Thomas Wynne, friend and physician of William Penn, on 
the good "Ship Welcome," 1682, the same vessel that brought Penn him- 
self to the New World. Afterwards the property of Dr. Wynne's great- 
great-grandson, Lieut. Thomas Wynn of the Pennsylvania militia. Pre- 
sented by their descendant. Miss Sallie Wynn, of "Wynnstay." 

Antique oaken rocking chair, once owned by Col. Edward Heston, of 
the Philadelphia militia, founder of Hestonville. Chair cushion of patch- 
work, made by Sarah Hall, his wife. Presented by their great-grand- 
daughter. Miss Mary Ella Harding. 

Oil portrait of Isaac Heston, a "Revolutionary Artificer," painted by 
himself. He was a brother of Edward. Presented by Mrs. Florence 
Heston Jones, Edward's great-granddaughter. 

Oil portrait of Catharine Clinton Heston, wife of Isaac. Painted by 
the latter. Presented by Mrs. Matilda Heston Hoot, great-granddaughter 
of Edward. 

Antique Windsor chair, fully 125 years old; fire shovel, tongs and 
bellows, all once belonging to Isaac Heston. Small embroidered ball pin- 
cushion, made by Catharine Clinton Heston. Presented by their grand- 
daughter. Miss Amanda Heston, of Hestonville. 

Blue and white perfume bottle, one of the first pieces of glass made at 
Glassboro, N. J., in 1775 by Captain Thomas Heston, of the Philadelphia 
County militia, a brother of Isaac and Edward. Presented by Edward's 
granddaughter, Miss Ellen Jones Heston. 

Crystal and white perfume bottle, made at Glassboro by Thomas 
Heston. Presented by Mrs. Tacy Heston Harding, granddaughter of 
Edward. Mrs. Harding also presented a wine glass, 150 years old, once 
belonging to the George family of George's Hill. 

10 



Mahogany washstand, 150 years old, once belonging to Mrs. Geyer, 
mother of Capt. Andrew Geyer, of the Philadelphia militia. Presented 
by Mrs. Emma Wynne MacDonald Veale, of West Philadelphia, descend- 
ant of Lieut. Thomas Wynne. 

Mirror, 130 years old, with carved mahogany frame, once belonging 
to Frederick Bicking, the patriot papermaker of Mill Creek, Lower Merion. 
Presented by his great-grandson, Mr. Frank Bicking, of Philadelphia, who 
also presented one cannon ball and 13 grapeshot dug up at Red Bank 
(Fort Mercer), New Jersey. 

Mirror, with mahogany frame of the same style as the one mentioned 
above, but smaller, the frame being of darker wood. This latter named 
mirror was a relic in the family of a Revolutionary soldier, John Wil- 
liams, of Charlestown, Chester County. He was the grandfather of 
Martha Williams, a young Revolutionary heroine who aided in the work 
of feeding and clothing the patriots at Valley Forge, and who afterwards 
married her teacher. Captain James Boyle. The mirror was presented by 
Mrs. Rebecca Longstreth Walker, of West Philadelphia, great-great- 
great-granddaughter of John Williams, and great-granddaughter of an- 
other Revolutionary soldier, Mordecai Williams, of the Chester County 
militia, brother of Martha. Mrs. Walker also presented a silver teaspoon 
once belonging to her grandmother, Rebecca Williams Longstreth, daugh- 
ter of Mordecai, and granddaughter of David. 

Colonial spinning wheel, very old, a relic in the family of Claus Jan- 
sen, of Van Bibber township, the early ancestor of the Johnson family of 
Germantown. Presented by Mrs. Louisa Harley Arnold, of Ardmore, 
great-great-great-granddaughter of Claus Jansen. Later the wheel de- 
scended to the family of Jacob Cassell, of Worcester township. Mont- 
gomery County, a soldier in the Philadelphia County militia, and great- 
grandfather of Mrs. Arnold. With the wheel are a bunch of flax and 
hand-made linen thread from Lanah Zimmermann, who afterwards mar- 
ried William Johnson, of Worcester, a soldier in the Philadelphia County 
militia and another great-grandfather of Mrs. Arnold. It was Lanah 
Zimmermann and her sister Katharine who drove the British soldier out 
of their house with the red-hot poker and tongs. Mrs. Arnold also pre- 
sented a blue and white china cream pitcher inherited from her great- 
great-grandmother, Eve Custer, and said to have been brought by Paulus 
Kuster, or Kishter, from Crefeld in 1693. Also a helmet-shaped cream 
pitcher, old blue and white Canton china, from the Levering family of 
Lower Merion. 

Distaff from Mrs. L. Whitman, of West Philadelphia. 

Mahogany card table of the Revolutionary period, a relic in the fam- 
ily of Daniel Williams, of Blockley and Philadelphia, a signer of the Non- 
Importation Act. Presented by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Deborah 
M. Cresswell, of Lower Merion, who also presented a white silhouette 

11 



portrait of Jonathan Mifflin, soldier in the Philadelphia City Troop, and 
Deputy Quartermaster-General. Also a manuscript "Receipt Book," dated 
1750-1785. 

Glass wine decanter, once the property of Ensign John Fulmer, who 
served in the French and Indian War. Inherited by his son, John Fulmer, 
Jr., who, when a boy, served as a despatch carrier at the Battle of the 
Brandywine under Lafayette and afterwards was a Captain in the War 
of 1812. He had four brothers, Joseph, George, Jacob and Casper, who 
also served as Revolutionary soldiers. His wife, Maria, was the daughter 
of another Revolutionary soldier, George Krauskopf. It was Maria 
Krauskopf and her sister Susanna who, when the Continental Army was 
encamped at the Falls of Schuylkill in the autumn of 1777, carried in- 
formation to Washington, throwing their Tory neighbors ofif the scent by 
pushing a wheelbarrow load of apples into camp and speaking only Ger- 
man, pretending they could not understand English. The wine decanter 
was presented by Mrs. Laura Kershaw Harding, great-granddaughter of 
John Fulmer, Jr., and his wife Maria. Mrs. Harding also presented a 
very old brass candlestick, a relic in the Harding family of Philadelphia. 

Two little footstools, relics in the Fulmer family. These came from 
the old Fulmer homestead, in the Northern Liberties Township, which 
stood on what is now the site of the "Home for Friendless Children," 
23d and Brown Streets, Philadelphia. The family afterwards lived at 
"Woodside," in old Blockley township, adjoining West Fairmount Park. 
Presented by Mrs. Jennie Fulmer Leak, great-granddaughter of John 
Fulmer, Jr., and Maria Krauskopf, his wife, and great-great-granddaugh- 
ter of George Krauskopf, of the Philadelphia County militia. 

Flax reel, fully 150 years old, a relic in the Wynne family, of "Wynn- 
stay," in Blockley. Presented by Mr. Thomas Wynne, of West Phila- 
delphia. 

Watercolor portrait of Caleb Ford, a resident of Chester County, 
painted by Captain James Boyle in 1799. Framed in oak from the floor 
of Old Eagle Schoolhouse, Tredyflfrin township. This ancient edifice, 
built before the American Revolution, is still standing and a number of 
Revolutionary soldiers are interred in the adjoining burying ground. Mr. 
Ford's younger sister was a pupil of "Schoolmaster Boyle." She married 
Mr. Parsons, of Lower Merion. This picture was presented by her son, 
Mr. Amos Parsons, of Merionville. 

Piece of pink and white chintz bed curtain, framed, once belonging 
to Benjamin Marshall, of Philadelphia, signer of the Non-Importation 
Act, 1765, and Delegate to the Provincial Convention, 1774. Antique 
work basket, formerly the property of his wife, Margaret Harris Marshall. 
Presented by their great-granddaughter. Miss Virginia Marshall. 

Silver tea pot, very old, adorned with Colonial heading, roses and 
Dutch tulips. A relic in the Fritz family of Reading, Pa., several members 

12 



^;i;*^, 



•ON THIS AND ADJACENT ?* 
JCROUND WASHINGTON'S ARMY 4^^ 
ENCAMPED SEPTEMBER 14,1777.1^1 

i S^^BIOH CHAPTER, # 




MEMokiAi, SToxk. 

Erected by Merion Chapter, D. A. R., September 14, 1896, to mark 

the spot where Washington's Army encamped September 14, 

1777, five days 1)efore the massacre of Paoli. This 

memorial stands on the Old Lancaster Road, Lower 

Merion, in the field adjoining Merion Meeting 

House and the General Wayne Tavern. 

(Photographed by Dora Harvey Develin.) 



of which served in the Berks County miUtia, among whom were John and 
Melchior. Presented by Mrs. Marguerite Wynne Maxwell, a descendant 
of Lieut. Thomas Wynne, of Pennsylvania, and Delaney Sharp, of Salem, 
New Jersey. 

Pewter plate of the Revolutionary period, once belonging to the High, 
or Huy, family of Reading, Pa. Among those of this family who served 
in the Berks County militia were Abraham, Jacob, George and John. 
Presented by Mrs. Caroline Roland Rowbotham, great-granddaughter of 
George Preise, of the Berks County Battalion, Continental Line. 

"King George shinplaster," dated March 25, 1776. Presented by 
Mrs. Elizabeth Keyser De Armond, of Lower Merion, descendant of 
David Davis, of the Continental Line, and of Michael Keyser, of the 
Philadelphia County militia. The shinplaster was received from her 
mother's family, the Websters, of Philadelphia. 

Sampler, finished by Ann Riedel in 1786. Shows a quaint picture of 
"Whitefield's Chappell." Presented by Edward B. Latch, U. S. N., and his 
sister, Mrs. Caroline Latch Royce, Lower Merion, descendants of Jacob 
Latch, called "Washington's Runner," and who served in the Philadelphia 
County militia. 

Sampler made by Mary Young, of Lower Merion, born in 1783. She 
finished the work in 1799. This sampler is framed in wood from one of 
the original benches of Lower Merion Friends' Meeting. Miss Young 
v/as the daughter of Captain John Young of the Philadelphia County 
militia. She also made a silk patchwork quilt, sewing it with hand-wrought 
linen thread from flax raised on the Young plantation, "Llewellyn," near 
Alerion Square. Her sister, Margaret Young, made a chintz quilt, which 
she finished in 1812; also began another in the album style, one of the 
blocks bearing the autograph of Ann Matilda Scheetz, daughter of the 
patriot papermaker, Benjamin Scheetz, of Mill Creek. All of these quilts, 
with the sampler, were presented to Merion Chapter by Miss Matilda 
Young, of Lower Merion, granddaughter of Captain Young. In addition, 
she has given a hand-woven, fringed linen towel, made by her grand- 
mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Llewellyn Young ; a china mug, decorated with a 
painting of "John Gilpin and His Ride," dating back to 1781, and once be- 
longing to her grandfather ; and a chess board made from wood grown 
on the Llewellyn plantation. 

Linen towel, more than 100 years old, once belonging to the family 
of Lieut. Jacob Sorber, of the Falls of Schuylkill. Presented by his 
granddaughter, Miss Christiana Sorber, who is also a great-granddaughter 
of Adam Ohl. Both these ancestors served in the Philadelphia County 
militia. 

China cup and saucer, decorated, 150 years old, once belonging to the 
family of Jesse George, of George's Hill, a member of the Committee of 

13 



Correspondence. Ivory-headed, silver-mounted cane, from the same fam- 
ily. Presented by Dr. John W. Lodge, of Lower Merion, a descendant of 
Ensign Nehemiah Evans, of the Philadelphia County militia. In addition, 
Dr. Lodge has presented an old silver wine-label, "Madeira," from his own 
family. Also a wine glass, once the property of Blair McClenahan, of 
Mill Creek, Lower Merion, a soldier in the Philadelphia City Troop. A 
statue of Blair McClenahan stands at the entrance to Trenton Battle 
Monument. The wine glass passed from McClenahan to his descendant, 
Mrs. Thomas Penn-Gaskell, whose husband was a direct descendant of 
William Penn. The Penn-Gaskells resided in Lower Merion, on the Old 
Gulph Road, near Mill Creek, their farm being the last piece of property 
in Pennsylvania held in unbroken line of descent in the Penn family. 

Pink and white China plate, once belonging to a Revolutionary sol- 
dier, Anthony Levering, of Levering's Ferry (now Manayunk), Pre- 
sented by his grandson, Isaac Lewis, Esq., of Lower Merion. 

Blue and white "ewer" (and basin) late the property of Mrs. Katie 
Dixey Harvey, and formerly belonging to her great-grandfather, Peter De 
Haven, the patriot powdermaker of French Creek, Chester County. Pre- 
sented by Adelaide V. Harvey, a charter member of the Martha Williams 
Society, Children of the American Revolution, in memory of her deceased 
mother. 

Blue and white china cup and saucer, once belonging to Lieut. Benja- 
min Holland, of Lower Merion, who served in the Philadelphia County 
militia. Presented by his granddaughter, Mrs. Kate Hoffman Jones, of 
Ardmore, who also presented a sugar bowl and tiny tea pot, of "sprigged" 
Lowestoft china, inherited from the family of her other grandfather, 
Philip Huffman, of Merion Square. 

Revolutionary gun flints (six), once belonging to John Frailey, of 
Germantown (afterwards of Blockley), who served in the Philadelphia 
County militia, with his brothers Rudolph, Peter and Jacob. Presented 
by Dr. John Rudolph Frailey, of West Philadelphia, grandson of John 
and Rudolph. 

Piece of "Dove Mill paper," made at the Revolutionary paper mill 
on Mill Creek, Lower Merion. At this mill, for many years, was made 
the greater part of the paper used by the United States Government; also 
the paper for the Continental notes, or "shinplasters." The water-mark 
was a "dove with the olive branch." Presented by a "Real Daughter," 
Miss Kate Scheetz, daughter of Francis Scheetz, a Revolutionary drummer 
and patriot papermaker, and granddaughter of Benjamin Scheetz. 

Envelope made from Wilcox paper, 130 years old. Mark Wilcox 
was one of the patriot papermakers of Chester County (Concord town- 
ship). Presented by Mr. George Van Roden, Philadelphia. 

Two autograph letters, written by Col. Edward Heston to his daugh- 
ters, Matilda and Louisa. The latter was Merion Chapter's "Real 

14 



Daughter," Mrs. Louisa Heston Paxson, who died March 26, 1899, aged 
yS. Presented by her son, Mr. Isaac Paxson, Schuylkill Haven, Pa. 

Pewter mug, very old, once belonging to Fanny, wife of a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, William Sheldrake, of Blockley township. His record is 
on his tombstone, in Blockley Baptist Cemetery. He was the son of a 
Revolutionary artificer, David Sheldrake. Presented by Miss Mary F. 
Suplee, of West Philadelphia, great-granddaughter of William and Fanny 
Sheldrake. 

The round window had no sill, and the deficiency was supplied by 
laying within it several strips of historic wood. These are: (i) A piece 
of oaken panel from a chest belonging to John ap Thomas, pioneer of 
Merion. The chest was made in 1624. John ap Thomas died on the eve 
of departure from Wales, but his oaken box was brought over by his 
brother, Cadwallader ap Thomas, in the good "Ship Lyon," which landed 
at Pencoyd on the Schuylkill in August, 1682, two months before the 
arrival of Penn in the "Welcome." Presented by Mr. Shelley T. Jones, 
of West Philadelphia, a direct descendant of John ap Thomas. (2) A 
strip of poplar wood from one of the original benches of Merion Meeting, 
the oldest church edifice in Pennsylvania, built by the Welsh Quakers in 
1695, on the site of a still older loghouse. One of the ancient iron rivets 
is still in the wood. Presented by Mr. Charles Ensinger, Lower Merion. 
(3) A strip of bird's-eye maple, cut from a bedstead once the property of 
General Anthony Wayne, Paoli. Presented by Mr. Edward Ross, Phila- 
delphia. The wood was taken from that part of a bed post having a 
screw hole. To fill this hole was inserted a circular section cut from a 
magnolia tree planted by Washington at Mount Vernon, said section hav- 
ing been brought thence to Valley Forge by Margaret B. Harvey. (4) A 
piece of oaken plank from the original floor of the Price Mansion, near 
Merion Meeting. In the wood remain several rusty, wrought-iron nails. 
The Price family were descended from Edward Rees, who gave the 
ground for the meeting. Among the members who served in the Revolu- 
tionary War were Joseph and John. When Cornwallis ravaged Lower 
Merion in the autumn and early winter of 1777 he occupied the Price 
Mansion as his headquarters. Presented by Mrs. Minnie Rothermel Mc- 
Dowell, descendant of Frederick Yeager, John Baum, Peter Rothermel 
and Jacob Driebelbies, of the Berks County militia, and of Thomas 
McDowell and Samuel Castner, of the Philadelphia County militia. 

The rag carpet woven in Colonial style was made by all the members 
of the Chapter. One breadth is composed entirely of scraps of the Revolu- 
tionary period, linen, linsey, cloth, chintz and silk. 

Black lace veil, formerly the property of Molly Sorber, daughter of 
Lieut. Jacob Sorber. Presented by her niece, Miss Lydia Deal, West 
Philadelphia. 



15 



Members of Merion Ckapter, Daugkters 
of tke American Revolution. 



National Number. 

17^263— Arnold, Mrs. Louisa Harley. Descendant of Henry Harley, 
William Johnson, Benjamin Johnson and Jacob Cassell, all of Mont- 
gomery County, Pa. 
50,486 — Chadbourne, Mrs. Caroline Lodge. Descendant of Ensign 

Nehemiah Evans, of Lower Merion. 
10^762— Cresswell, Mrs. Deborah Moulson. Descendant of Daniel 

Williams, of Philadelphia and Blockley. 
60,568— Croft, Mrs. Harriet Lodge Oliver. Descendant of Ensign 
Nehemiah Evans. 

8,015 Davis, Mrs. Hannah Wynne Compton. Descendant of Lieut. 

Thomas Wynne, of Blockley, and Delaney Sharp, of New Jersey. 
10.763— De Armond, Mrs. Elizabeth Keyser. Descendant of David 

Davis, of Philadelphia, and Michael Keyser, of Germantown. 
7^603— Develin, Mrs. Dora Harvey. Descendant of Captain James 
Boyle, John Williams and David Williams, who served in the 
Pennsylvania militia, and Martha Williams, all of Charlestown, 
Chester County. 
i4.58q_Harding, Mrs. Laura Kershaw. Descendant of John Fulmer, 
Jr., and George Krauskopf, of the Northern Liberties, Philadelphia 
County. 
8,016— Harding, Miss Mary Ella. Descendant of Col. Edward Heston, 

of Hestonville, Blockley township, Philadelphia County. 
7.601— Harvey, Miss Margaret Boyle. Descendant of Captain James 
Boyle, John Williams, David Williams and Martha Williams, of 
Charlestown. 
8^017— Heston, Miss Ellen Jones. Descendant of Col. Edward Hes- 
ton. 
28,254— Hoot, Mrs. Matilda Heston. Descendant of Col. Edward 
Heston and of Adam Ohl, of the old Mulberry Ward, Philadelphia. 
7^602— Hughes, Mrs. Gertrude Harvey. Descendant of Captain James 

Boyle, John Williams, David Williams and Martha Williams. 
8,018— Jones, Mrs. Florence Heston. Descendant of Col. Edward 

Heston and Adam Ohl. 
28,268— Kerb augh, Mrs. Rebecca L. Descendant of Lieut. William 
Schofield, of Chester County, who served in the Pennsylvania Con- 
tinental Line. 
21,295— Leak, Mrs. Jennie Fulmer. Descendant of John Fulmer, Jr., 
and George Krauskopf. 

17 



51,531 — McClure, Mrs. Lillie Duffield. Descendant of Lieut. Thomas 

Wynne. 
15,249 — McDowell, Mrs. Minnie Rothermel. Descendant of Frederick 
Yeager (Hunter), John Baum, Peter Rothermel and Jacob Drie- 
belbies (Triebelpiece), of Berks County, and of Samuel Castner 
and Thomas McDowell, of Montgomery County. 
60,569 — Magee, Miss Elizabeth, Descendant of Ensign Nehemiah 

Evans. 
17,264 — Marshall, Miss Virginia. Descendant of Benjamin Marshall, 

of Philadelphia. 
8,019 — Maxwell, Mrs. Marguerite Wynne. Descendant of Lieut. 
Thomas Wynne, of Blockley, Pa., and Delaney Sharp, of Salem, 
N.J. 
27,085 — Merrill, Mrs. Louise Rothermel Miller. Descendant of Fred- 
erick Yeager, John Baum, Peter Rothermel, Jacob Driebelbies, 
Samuel Castner and Thomas McDowell. 
42,544 — RowBOTHAM, Mrs. Caroline Roland. Descendant of George 

Preise, of Berks County. 
55,421 — Shaw, Mrs. Anna Fulmer. Descendant of John Fulmer, Jr., 

and George Krauskopf. 
7'599 — SwoPE, Mrs. Julia Harvey. Descendant of Captain James 
Boyle, John Williams, David Williams and Martha Williams. 
27,887 — Tait, Mrs. Florence Stevens. Descendant of John Stephens, 

of Stephensburg, Virginia. 
59,011 — ^Tait, Florence Louisa. Descendant of John Stephens, of 

Stephensburg, Virginia. 
15,252 — Thomson, Mrs. Mary Rothermel. Descendant of Frederick 
Yeager, John Baum, Peter Rothermel, Jacob Driebelbies, Samuel 
Castner and Thomas McDowell. 
9,832 — Veale, Mrs. Emma Wynne MacDonald. Descendant of Lieut. 

Thomas Wynne and Delaney Sharp. 
8,021^— Walker, Mrs. Rebecca Longstreth. Descendant of John Wil- 
liams, David Williams, Mordecai Williams, Isaac Coates, John 
Roads and John Longstreth, of Chester County, and Abram Det- 
wiler, of Montgomery County. 
7,600 — Whilldin, Mrs. Beulah Harvey. Descendant of Captain 
James Boyle, John Williams, David Williams and Martha Wil- 
liams. 
59,012 — Whilldin, Gertrude Harvey. Descendant of Captain James 
Boyle, John Williams, David Williams, Martha Williams and 
Michael Gilbert. 
31,838 — Yundt, Miss Henrietta C. K. Descendant of Frederick Bick- 
ing, patriot papermaker of Mill Creek, Lower Merion, and his son, 
Richard Bicking. 

18 








The Oi.d Generai. Wayne Tavern. 

'Opened I1704), where Merion Chapter held its inauj^uration, 

April 17, 1895. Washington and Lafayette both slept 

in this old inn on several occasions. 

(Photographed by Dora Harvey Develiu.) 



DECEASED MEMBERS. 



15,248 — Darlington, Mrs. Louise Rothermel. Descendant of Fred- 
erick Yeager, John Baum, Peter Rothermel, Jacob Driebelbies, 
Samuel Castner and Thomas McDowell. 
24,937 — Harvey, Mrs. Katie Dixey. Descendant of Peter De Haven, 

patriot powdermaker of Chester County and Philadelphia. 
8,020 — Nock, Mrs. Emma Louisa Perry. Descendant of James Perry 

and Thomas Finley, both of Elk township, Chester County. 
9,833 — Paullin, Mrs. Lydia Wynne MacDonald. Descendant of 

Lieut. Thomas Wynne and Delaney Sharp. 
8,168 — Paxson, Mrs. Louisa Heston, "Real Daughter" of Col. Edward 
Heston, of Hestonville. 
Miss Kate Scheetz, a "Real Daughter," was accepted as an Honorary 
Member of Merion Chapter, but died before her record could be verified. 
She was the daughter of Francis Scheetz, one of the founders of Lower 
Merion Baptist Church, and Catharine Sibley, his wife, and granddaugh- 
ter of Benjamin Scheetz and Rudolph Sibley, Revolutionary patriots. It 
was Catharine Sibley Scheetz who dressed Secretary Charles Thomson 
for burial. Miss Scheetz died in 1896, aged 80, 




^A/^ater MarK of tlie O^d 
Dove Mill Taper. 
Drawn by Marg^ar^t B.Harvey 



19 



